Non-development expenditures less than 60pc of budget, says CM

After presenting the provincial budget for 2022-23 in the Sindh Assembly a day earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah addressing the post-budget press conference on Wednesday, in which he explained that the next year's Rs1.73 trillion budget comprised 69.9 per cent or Rs1.199 trillion current revenue expenditures, 3.18 per cent or Rs54.5 billion current capital expenditures and 26.8 per cent or Rs459.65 billion development expenditures.

He said the current revenue expenditures (CRE) of Rs1.199 trillion could not be entirely termed as non-development expenditures as 2.9 per cent of it (Rs35.360 billion) was for repair and maintenance, which was part of development budget.

Shah said the CRE had also 21.4 per cent or Rs256.605 billion grants for educational and health institutions, procurement of buses for BRT routes in Karachi, and subsidies for social protection and right-off loans.

He added that 14.5 per cent or Rs174.229 billion of the CRE was for employees retirement benefits, 12.3 per cent or Rs147.449 billion for operating expenses and 42.5 per cent or 509.732 billion for employees-related expenses.

Shah said that the non-development expenditures would not be more than 60 per cent of the total budget but even then, his government was trying to control such expenses.

“Yes, the burden of Rs 174.229 billion of employees retirement benefits is huge on the provincial exchequer and needs to be controlled,” he said, adding that his government was working on a scheme to introduce a new pension plan.

To a question, the CM said that his government was preparing a policy to offer registration of electric vehicles free of charge. “The POL prices are increasing day by day, therefore our government is planning to offer free registration of electric vehicles as an incentive,” he said, adding that he would announce the policy once it was approved by the cabinet.

Responding to another question, the CM said that the 40 per cent POL quota of the government officers had been curtailed keeping in view the 40 per cent increase in POL prices. “The POL allowance of the officers is the same in terms of money, but the commodity price has increased by 40 per cent which means they [officers] would be able to purchase 40 per cent less POL from their allowance,” he elaborated.

Karachi projects

The CM maintained that the total outlay on Karachi’s development during 2022-23 was Rs.125 billion. Giving a break-up of the amount and the schemes, he said Rs.80.077 billion had been allocated for 750 Karachi-specific schemes, of which Rs60.686 billion was for 483 ongoing schemes and Rs19.390 billion for 267 new schemes.

The CM said that Rs5 billion had been allocated for the District Annual Development Programme and Rs40.715 billion for seven projects through foreign assistance, including the Competitive and Liveable City of Karachi Project (Click), Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP), Karachi Water & Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) Phase-I & Phase-II, Construction of Red Line BRT and Karachi Urban Mobility Project – BRT Yellow Line.

Shah also named around 32 mega projects for the city, including the Safe City project for Rs5 billion (its pilot part would be completed next year), dual carriageway Manghopir Road to Shahrah-e-Qaddafi for Rs12.19 billion, renovation of the Karachi Fish Harbour for Rs1.6 billion for which Rs309.6 million has been allocated, and rehabilitation of storm water drains Phase-II for Rs1 billion.

Medical city

The CM said that Gambat, a town in Khairpur district, would be converted into a medical city. “A new term of Medical Tourism has been coined for the cities where people would go for their medical treatment,” he said, adding that Gambat would provide all kinds of medical facilities after establishment of healthcare institutions.

Talking about the health sector, the CM said Rs219.787 billion has been allocated for the sector, which includes Rs196.453 billion for non-development and Rs23.334 billion for development expenditures. He added that grants amounting to Rs66.151 billion would be given to different institutes, trusts and NGOs.

Energy sector

The CM said that currently, 660MW of coal-based energy had been produced from Thar Block-II and by the end of the next year, 2,000 MWs of coal-fired power would be generated.

“Thar has the capacity to meet not only the total energy requirement of the country but can export its additional production to earnthe foreign exchange,” he said.

He added that he had laid the foundation stone for the Rs35 billion Nabisar-Vajihar water infrastructure project. “This project has been launched under a public-private partnership with a Kuwaiti state company,” he said.

He told the media that the Sindh government was planning to convene an investment conference in Kuwait to attract more investment.

The CM said that the energy sector had been allocated Rs32.92 billion, including Rs2.55 billion for development and Rs30.37 for non-development expenses. He explained that the energy sector’s portfolio had been increased by Rs6.992 billion for the next financial year. He said that a proposal was under consideration by his government to allow government employees to work from home on Fridays as part of the energy conservation plan.

Education

The CM said that the country had a 65 per cent population of youth up to 35 years of age. “Therefore, we have decided to establish universities or campuses of university in every district so that they could impart technical education,” he said and added that his government was also going to announce a five-year IT policy.

Shah announced that he has given 100 per cent allocation for the projects of universities and campuses so that they could be completed within one or two years. He added that the Thar Technical institute was already working in the desert region and it would be made a university during the next financial year.

The CM said Rs326.687 billion had been earmarked for the education sector, including Rs29.47 billion for non-development and Rs34.217 billion for development expenses. The CM announced that youth centres were also being established in every district for which 100 per cent allocation had been made. The youth centres would have an auditorium, library, tuck-shop, TV hall, gym and such other facilities. “The purpose is to provide healthy activities to our youth,” he said.

The CM also thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for including three schemes in the water sector and four road projects for Sindh in the federal PSDP. The water sector scheme includes the construction of three small dams and Rs20 billion have been allocated for the K-IV project.

At the outset of the press conference, the CM condemned the incident that happened in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday where PTI MPAs carrying placards staged a protest in front of him while he was presenting the budget. He added that foul language had been used during the protest against the PPP leadership. Shah said that how PTI members were elected was a different story, but they were not serious about the assembly business.