ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform has so fargiven authorization for the release of over Rs160.586 billion for variousongoing and new social sector uplift projects under its Public SectorDevelopment Programme (PSDP) 2019-20, as against the total allocation ofRs701 billion.
Out of this total amount, the authorities concerned were sanctioned torelease an amount of Rs61.957 billion for federal ministries, Rs50.212billion for corporations and Rs8.788 billion for special areas, accordingto the latest data released by the ministry.
Out of these, Rs26.78 billion authorization has so far been made forsecurity enhancement in the country for which the government had allocatedRs32.5 billion during the year 2019-20.
The ministry has authorized an amount of Rs12 billion for the merged areasof erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) under thegovernment’s 10 years development programme.
Similarly, for Higher Education Commission the PSDP release would reach toRs5.739 billion out of its total allocation of Rs29 billion while Rs4.891billion were authorized to be released for Pakistan Atomic EnergyCommission for which the government had allocated Rs 24.45 billion in thedevelopment budget.
For the National Highway Authority, the ministry so far has authorizedreleases ofRs46.494 billion against its allocations of Rs154.96 billion.
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Under the annual development agenda, the ministry also authorized releasesof Rs2.7 billion for Railways Division out of total allocation of Rs16billion, Rs1.969 billion for Interior Division, and Rs3.234 billion forNational Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Division.
The releases for Revenue Division would reach to Rs 981.378 million out oftotal allocation of Rs1.9 billion while for Cabinet Division anauthorization of Rs7.997 billion have been made so far against Rs 39.986billion.
The ministry has authorized releases of Rs5.416 billion for Azad Jammu andKashmir (AJK) block and other projects out of its allocations of Rs 27.26billion and Rs3.372 billion for Gilgit Baltistan (Block and other projects).
The Planning Commission of Pakistan follows the specific mechanism forrelease of funds. During first quarter (July-September) it releases 20percent of development funds, in second quarter (October-December) 20percent, third quarter (January-March) 30 per cent and fourth quarter(April-June) 30 percent.
