LAHORE: The government has not allocated funds for Orange line Metro Train in the provincial budget 2016-17.
This was stated by provincial finance minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, while addressing the post-budget press conference here at CM House. She added that a soft foreign debt amounting to Rs115 billion, including a Chinese loan of Rs85 billion, will finance this project.
The minister said that the main focus of the provincial budget 2011-17 is to ensure maximum ease to the poor, youth employment, end of energy crisis, initiatives for agriculture sector, infrastructural development and a viable tax regime.
“Punjab’s Rs1.68 trillion budget is expected to generate 0.5 million jobs in the province through a massive development investment of Rs550 billion in large infrastructure, agriculture, water supply, transport, irrigation and energy projects.”
She appreciated the Punjab CM vision for economic growth to convert Punjab into a secure, economically vibrant and industrialized province under its growth strategy 2015-18. She said the government was creating an investment-friendly environment to attract private investment in the province for job creation.
Dr Pasha said that the salient features of the Punjab’s Economic Growth Strategy include raising provincial development growth to 7-8 per cent by 2018, creation of 1 million jobs annually, double the private investment in the province till 2018, taking all possible measures to eliminate terrorism, to ensure protection to the life and property of the masses and to raise export volume.
She said that more than half of the current budget has been set aside for general public services while current expenditure also includes allocations of Rs63b for providing subsidies to the poorer segments of population, including smallholders and landless growers in the province. The minister said that the major chunk of the subsidies is set aside for supplying cheap fertilisers to farmers under the federal Kisan Package and providing interest-free credit of Rs30b to the growers.
The minister said that under-completion energy projects in Punjab included 1320 MW coal-fired power station at Sahiwal worth Rs 180 billion, 1000 MW Quaid-e-Solar Park, which is currently generating 100 MW electricity at Bahawalpur at a cost of Rs 145 billion and 300 MW coal power project worth Rs 45 billion at Pind Dadan Khan. These three projects, she added, would be generating accumulative 2620MW electricity by 2017.
She said that the government is also initiating 1200 MW gas-fired power project at a cost of Rs 110 billion in Sheikhupura and it would be fully inducted into the power system by 2017.
The provincial government, she added, was also working on small power projects, as work had been started on coal-fired projects of 110 MW at Sundar Industrial Estate Lahore and Faisalabad Industrial Estate. Both the projects would cost Rs 33 billion, she added.
