KP govt spent Rs8.2bn on official vehicles in 2021-22

PESHAWAR: The officials, high and low, of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are availing a free fuel facility of around Rs7 billion annually on government vehicles.

The national exchequer also has to bear around Rs1.2 billion as the repair cost of official vehicles annually.

The previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government spent Rs3.2 billion on the purchase of new vehicles in the financial year 2021-22. During the current financial year, the government expenses have increased manifold due to an increase in the price of petrol, and inflation. The vehicles data for 2022-23 is not available with any department.

According to data available with The News, 16,101 vehicles have been registered with the Excise and Taxation Department in KP and 4,910 new vehicles of models later than 2017 have also been registered. Thus the KP officials are using around 21,011 different vehicles, according to their entitlement.

The provincial government paid around Rs4 billion for the vehicle fuel expenditures of officials during the financial year 2021-22. Another Rs2.2 billion amount was spent on police vehicles, used by officers and officials. Rs0.8 billion was the cost of vehicles, used by the district officers. The government spent around Rs883 million in the financial year 2021-22 for vehicles repair, while Rs318 million was the cost of police vehicles’ repair. Thus, during one year, Rs1.2 billion was spent on repair and maintenance of government cars. Similarly, with around Rs1.5 billion, vehicles were purchased in 2021-22 for officers. The development sectors also purchased around 431 vehicles by spending Rs1.7 billion for various development projects in the year 2021-22.

Sources said the number of official vehicles in KP is much higher than the official figures, whose records are not available with the KP Excise Department or they are registered in Islamabad. An official of the finance department said: “There is no central repository where one can know how many officers and officials have vehicles and the actual number of vehicles is not known. The data for 2022-23 has not been obtained so far,” the official added. The finance department had proposed a broad framework for car monetisation, but the government could not take any decision. It had proposed that the green number-plate would be abolished eventually. Car monetisation policy would be mandatory for all officers except for vehicles for essential services such as ambulances, fire brigade, Rescue-1122, police patrol, and any others.

The draft said that the officer would be able to monetise only one vehicle. The maintenance and repair would be the responsibility of the officer. The fuel would be provided through a fuel card or monetised through fuel allowance. The drivers are to be declared dying cadre, and the officer is to receive Rs32,000 minimum wage equivalent monetised benefit if they don’t avail driver; any officer may forego Rs32,000 and avail driver from the surplus pool. Car leasing will be introduced for officers simultaneously. A car will be entitled to monetise on is as is basis. The car value will be depreciated as follows: 20pc after the first year 15pc after the second year 10pc after the third year 10pc after the fourth year 10pc after the fifth year. Sources in the finance department told this correspondent that they proposed to the cabinet that a committee, under the transport minister, needs to work out modalities although spadework has already been done by the finance department. So, after getting g recommendation of the committee, the same could be approved by the cabinet sometime in future.