KARACHI: The Sindh government has increased the allocation of amount for the development projects of Karachi by 49 per cent to Rs49.73 billion for the fiscal year 2015-16 as compared to Rs33.425 billion it allocated in 2014-15.
However, the actual budgetary allocation for Karachi was Rs42 billion in FY15, which means the size of next year’s ADP is 18pc higher than current year, and not 49pc.
An official said that it seems the government has finally realised that the city’s needs should be viewed compassionately instead of letting political biases decide the resource dispersal. He said that Karachi got the highest increase in its share followed by Hyderabad. All the other divisions have got minimal raises, save Mirpurkhas which, in fact, saw a decrease of Rs2 billion than what it was given in the last budget.
Similarly, Rs37.56 billion (including district ADP) has been allocated for Hyderabad division, while Rs27.346 has been proposed for Sukkur division to execute ongoing and new development schemes.
Larkana division, the native region of the Bhuttos of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has been given Rs33.586 billion for its ongoing and new schemes. A sum of Rs34.584 billion would be kept for similar schemes of Mirpurkhas division where Tharparkar district would be the government’s priority due to its backwardness, poverty and availability of coal reserves.
Out of total outlay of the annual development programme (ADP), Rs20.577 billion has been allocated for 91 schemes of Thar. In contrast to the previous huge allocations, the Benazirabad division got Rs18.015 billion, a comparatively small allocation.
