Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had approved more development budget as compared to other governments.
Responding to the remarks of MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif in the National Assembly, he said, PPP and PML-N ruled for ten years but not a single rupee development budget was allocated by them.
Asad said in the PML-N government, the prime minister and defense minister were working on “Iqama”.
He said the PTI government was being praised by the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum and the Economist for tackling COVID-19 successfully.
Read more: Cabinet approves controversial mini-budget
He said in the last survey, 86% of Pakistanis were of the view that the government performed better during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the PTI alone had won 15 tehsils mayors seats while PPP, PML-N and ANP together had won 9 tehsils.
Development Budget 2021-22
Asad Umar said that the allocation for the federal development budget is Rs900 billion for 2021-22 against Rs650 billion for 2020-21, showing an increase of 38.5 percent YoY, while the provincial development budget is of Rs1.2 trillion for 2021-22 against Rs867 billion for 2020-21, an increase of 38.6 percent.
According to the NEC decision, the development budget of Punjab is Rs500 billion for 2021-22 against Rs310 billion for 2020-21 an increase of 61.3 percent, Sindh’s Rs321 billion against Rs194 billion, an increase of 65.5 percent, Balochistan’s Rs133 billion against Rs89 billion, an increase of 49.4 percent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rs248 billion against Rs274 billion, a decrease of 9.5 percent year-on-year.
Minister for Planning @Asad_Umar says PTI government has approved more development budget as compared to previous governmentshttps://t.co/eau2S2wMnS
— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) December 31, 2021
According to the minister, a highly significant increase in the development budget was one of the reasons behind the projected 4.8 percent growth for the next fiscal year. He said that the GDP could even exceed 5 percent. He said that there was a huge difference in allocation and actual expenditure during 2017-18, therefore, he preferred five-year-old data – 2016-17.
Comparing the development allocation with previous years (2016-17), Asad Umar informed that the past government allocated 56 percent of the total PSDP for energy, transport and communication projects whereas this share has been reduced to 40 percent in the upcoming year.
Read More: Pakistan sets growth target 4.8%, development budget highest in history
However, he clarified that work on the road projects had not been reduced as the current government was spending even more funds on the road projects through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
He said an allocation of Rs244 billion is made for motorways, highways, interprovincial/district roads, airport, Railway projects, adding that 3,261km length of new roads will be added to the network.
APP with additional input by GVS News Desk