Confusion on backup support persists
ZAHEER ABBASI
ISLAMABAD: Confusion persists with respect to the Rs 230 billion projected to be from self financing by corporations/authorities in the budget for 2018-19 giving a grand total federal public sector development programme (PSDP) of Rs 1.03 trillion.
When contacted, spokesman Planning Commission Asif Shiekh stated that Rs 230 billion financing for the PSDP projects over and above Rs 800 billion by the federal government included Rs 100 billion block allocation for new projects to be undertaken by the next government and another Rs 100 billion to be arranged by the National Highways Authority (NHA) to implement some projects in public-private partnership but when asked was unable to name any specific NHA project designed to be implemented under PPP mode.
He further admitted that he had no knowledge how this large sum of money would be generated – through borrowing with or without government guarantee or whether it would be through investment – foreign or domestic.
A Finance Ministry official acknowledged that several sources of funding in the PSDP for next year were without any backup support and no one knew where the amount would come from. He said that block allocation of Rs 100 billion for the next government’s development projects and Rs 100 billion financing in the public private partnership mode were such examples.
An official revealed to this correspondent that Finance Ministry has set an indicative ceiling of Rs 750 billion for the federal government PSDP programme for 2018-19 while the Planning Commission wanted more than Rs 1 trillion for next fiscal year’s PSDP. An official on condition of anonymity said the size of federal PSDP was enhanced by the National Economic Council (NEC), perhaps, on insistence by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal without any backup support for the additional Rs 230 billion financing.
The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) approved a developmental portfolio of Rs1.763 trillion for next fiscal year which included provincial Annual Development Plans (ADPs) of Rs1.013 trillion and federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of Rs 750 billion.
Ahsan Iqbal told media after the APCC meeting on April 17, 2018, that he would be seeking an increase in federal PSDP by National Economic Council (NEC).
