CM Murad Ali Shah complains of Rs144bn shortfall in federal revenue transfers

The Sindh government is facing a shortfall of Rs144 billion in the federal revenue transfers in the current financial year, due to which the development projects all over Sindh had been badly affected.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said this while presiding over three different meetings on Friday at the CM House to review the ongoing district development portfolio of Matiari, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar.

The CM said his government had received Rs378.3 billion from the federal government against its share of Rs522.1 billion which showed a shortfall of Rs143.8 billion to this date.

He added that even then, his government was committed to completing the ongoing development schemes and new schemes would also be launched in the next financial year. The meeting was informed that for Matiari district, 48 schemes worth Rs1.6 billion were in progress. The finance department had released Rs929.6 million for the schemes, which was 58 per cent of the total allocation and the utilisation was Rs593.5 million, which was 64 per cent of the release.

For 13 schemes worth Rs166.5 million in Matiari, 96 per cent of the funds had been released, due to which the CM directed the department concerned to complete them by the end of current financial year.

In Matiari, the Auqaf department had started three schemes worth Rs23.7 million, culture department had launched one scheme worth Rs42.7 million, whereas, the school education department had initiated five projects for Rs312.1 million.

The college education department had launched three schemes in the district for Rs17 million, universities and boards department one scheme worth Rs150 million, while the health department had started a single scheme at an estimated cost of Rs40 million.

The home department had launched a single scheme for Rs15 million. The information department was working on one scheme worth Rs3.43 million while the irrigation department had launched five schemes worth Rs237.8 million.

In Tando Mohammad Khan district, work was under way on 45 schemes for Rs1.1 billion, against which the government had released Rs677.4 million, which was 59 per cent of the allocation. The utilisation was Rs441.2 million which was 65 per cent of the release.

The meeting was informed that in the district, 13 schemes worth Rs134.4 million would be completed by the end of June 2020 while seven other schemes worth Rs209.1 million would be completed within the next three months.

The school education department has launched eight schemes in Tando Mohammad Khan, home department two, irrigation department four, local government department 11, public health engineering six, whereas, the works department has launched eight schemes.

For Tando Allahyar district, 42 schemes worth Rs1.7 billion had been launched, against which the government had released Rs1.2 billion, which amounted to 71 per cent of the allocation, whereas, its utilisation had been Rs1.02 billion, which was 84 per cent of the released funds.

The meeting was told that five ongoing district-specific schemes worth Rs271.2 million would be completed by the end of 2019-20. The CM directed different departments to complete 12 schemes worth 119.1 million for which the government had released 91 per cent of the allocated amount.

In Tando Allahayr, the school education has launched six schemes, local government five, PHE seven and works and services 15 schemes. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, provincial ministers Nisar Khuhro, Syed Nasir Shah and Saeed Ghani and others.