ISLAMABAD: The government has diverted Rs24 billion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other initiatives for discretionary spending on parliamentarians’ schemes as the process to dole out taxpayer money for politically motivated projects begins.
The Rs24 billion has been diverted from grant number 137, which is related to CPEC and other initiatives, showed official documents of the Ministry of Planning and Development. The money has been moved to the Cabinet Division’s grant number 108, which already has an allocation of Rs5 billion.
With additional Rs24 billion, the total spending on parliamentarians’ schemes would be Rs29 billion this year. In its last year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government spent Rs32.6 billion under the PM’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Achievement Fund. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration has begun the journey with a Rs29-billion spending plan for its first year in power.
Both the PML-N and the PTI have used the name of SDGs to push ahead with their political agendas.
The CPEC and other initiatives have a total approved allocation of Rs27 billion and diversion of Rs24 billion suggests that CPEC projects will be adversely affected. This also shows that the PTI government gives less priority to CPEC and is keen to win and retain political loyalties of members of the National Assembly by doling out taxpayer money.
The discretionary spending is also a violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the discretionary spending case of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The money has been diverted without parliament’s approval. Parliament’s ex-post facto approval, as per practice, will be taken along with the new fiscal year’s budget, which will deprive the legislature of the scrutiny of expenditures.
The response of Federal Minister for Planning and Development Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar was awaited till the filing of the story.
The planning ministry issued the adjustment order in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2018-19 on January 16, just a day after the Cabinet Division made a request for the money.
“The approved funds of Rs24 billion will be surrendered in favour of the Cabinet Division’s Development Grant Number 108, out of the allocation for CPEC and other initiatives available in the development grant of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform in PSDP 2018-19,” read the official memorandum.
On February 19, the Ministry of Planning surrendered Rs24 billion from its demand number 137 (CPEC and other initiatives) for the current fiscal year. The money was surrendered in favour of the Cabinet Division for the scheme titled “Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme (SAP)”. This has now enabled the Cabinet Division to take technical supplementary grant of Rs24 billion from the finance ministry.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had vowed that he would not use taxpayer money to lure voters. But he had to make yet another compromise to retain his thin majority in the National Assembly.
During a meeting with Planning Minister Khusro Bakhtyar, a member of the National Assembly belonging to the PTI cautioned that if the money was not given for parliamentarians’ schemes, the government might lose next elections.
The last PML-N government had spent over Rs130 billion in about three years in over 100 constituencies and yet it could not win the general elections.
The Cabinet Division has now sought technical supplementary grant to distribute money for the parliamentarians’ schemes. In the Cabinet Division’s budget, the money will be shown as “general expenditures”, according to the documents reviewed by The Express Tribune.
Once the finance ministry sanctions the technical supplementary grant, the money will be released to the Cabinet Division for onward spending on the politically motivated projects.
“CPEC funds have not been diverted,” claimed Hasan Daud Butt, the official spokesman for CPEC affairs, in a terse response. He did not provide breakdown of the Rs27-billion grant to prove his claim.
Following in the footsteps of its arch rival PML-N, the PTI government has also set up a steering committee, headed by Special Assistant to PM on Political Affairs Naeemul Haq, for approving development schemes recommended by MNAs for their respective constituencies. In the PML-N’s tenure, this job was performed by the then minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad.
The steering committee on Monday held its first meeting to approve the schemes of parliamentarians, according to the government officials. The schemes are being forwarded to the committee from district levels – a mechanism designed by the PML-N to hide real motives of the spending.
