After three years of sluggish funds utilisation, the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has managed to use around 80 per cent of development funding released for the first quarter of 2016-17.

Though few departments are still struggling to use funds, an improvement in this respect has been seen in some major sectors, including road, agriculture, higher education, water and housing.

Officials in the planning and development department told Dawn that the first quarter’s review had yet to complete but there was a marked improvement in the funds’ utilisation compared to previous years.

“The ratio of expenditure against the release has considerably improved compared to the previous year,” an official said, adding that last year, it stood at 5.8 per cent of the total releases during the first quarter, while the figure had jumped to over 24 per cent for the current year.

However, tentative review figures compiled by the P&D department show that ratio of expenditure against the released funds stood at 80 per cent.

The figures show that about Rs37.35 billion were released for ADP projects in 36 sectors were released during the first quarter of the year and Rs30 billion of this amount was utilised. Interestingly, KP government had faced an uphill task of using the ADP funds during its initial two years as a large portion of funds lapsed due to the government departments’ failure to use them.
Spends around 80 per cent of development money released for current fiscal’s first quarter

A P&D department official said the main reason for better funds utilisation was the perception that it was the PTI government’s last year in power to show some progress on economic front to their electorates, as focus would on elections during the next fiscal preceding general elections.

“Everybody including chief minister and his cabinet are eager about the full utilisation of development funds before the clock starts ticking for elections,” he said.

The official said the provincial government was mainly focusing on the projects due for completion in almost all sectors and also on priority projects, which has pushed the ratio higher.

He said the government had pumped over Rs13 billion into the construction of Swat Motorway alone.

“This is a huge amount, which has definitely helped push up the figure,” he said, adding that everything was in order but the government faced a financial crunch.

According to the figures, in the road sector, Rs13.43 billion was released and Rs13.12 billion of it has been utilised at the rate of almost 100 per cent.

The water sector got Rs1.43 billion and 1.18 billion of it has been used b, agriculture sector Rs705 million and Rs696 million has been spent during the first quarter.

Rs7.2 billion was released for the district ADP and it was used 100 per cent.

The releases for elementary and secondary education department was Rs3.73 billion and Rs3.25 billion of it has been used at the rate of 87 per cent.

The board of revenue spent Rs102 million of the Rs137 million funds, higher education department Rs552 million of Rs775 million, forestry Rs635 million of Rs1.67 billion and local government Rs403 million of Rs717 million.

The urban development sector spent Rs390 million of the Rs678 million funding, industries Rs174 million of Rs393 million and health department Rs758 million of Rs2.56 billion.

The information department turned out to be the worst performer in this respect as it failed to use even a single penny of its Rs35 million funds.

The transport department managed to spent only Rs4.5 million out of Rs22 million, population welfare department Rs2.59 million out of Rs45 million and labour department meagre Rs0.54 million out of Rs6.89 million.