ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced Rs800 billion development budget to complete 866 projects, including China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) book that the government tabled in parliament reveals the government has further slashed allocations for the CPEC projects by Rs9 billion to only Rs115 billion for the fiscal year 2016-17.
The PSDP is proposed at Rs800 billion – higher by Rs100 billion or 14.3% over the outgoing fiscal year’s development budget. However, out of this Rs800 billion, the share of planning ministry-administrated PSDP will be Rs655 billion. The PSDP includes Rs143 billion foreign loans, which are almost 22% of the actual federal development budget of Rs655 billion.
As many as 866 projects, having an estimated cost of Rs6 trillion, will be financed under the PSDP during 2016-17. An amount of Rs2 trillion has already been spent on these schemes. The government has included 227 new projects in the PSDP document, having an estimated cost of Rs762 billion.
The government proposed Rs467 billion for infrastructure projects – 14.4% higher than this fiscal. Within infrastructure, Rs157 billion have been proposed for the power sector; Rs260 billion for transport and communications; Rs32 billion for water; and Rs18 billion for physical planning and housing.
