Over Rs6.5tr Punjab budget to be tabled today

LAHORE: The Punjab government will present more than Rs 6.5 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 on Monday (today) with over Rs 1.2 trillion Annual Development Programme (ADP). The budget session is called at 11:00am.

It will focus towards communication infrastructure development. There will be no new tax, rather scope of existing taxes to be expanded by ending some exemptions given to selected segments, agriculture income tax and eliminating the negative list of the service under Punjab sales tax to bring almost all the services in the provincial tax net.

Punjab cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, will approve the proposed budget and then it will be presented in the Punjab Assembly.

It is estimated that Punjab will get more than Rs 4 trillion from the federal divisible pool, while over one trillion tax and non-tax revenue will be generated from indigenous provincial resources.

The Punjab Revenue Authority will be tasked to collect more than Rs 300 billion in next fiscal year while the Excise and Taxation department will generate over Rs 63 billion revenue.

The total tax collection target is above Rs 510 billion and non-tax revenue target is Rs 540 billion.

The government has planned Rs 1,205 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) by earmarking Rs 145 billion for urban development, Rs 142 billion for local government and community development, Rs 120 billion for road sector, Rs 90 billion for the health sector.

Furthermore, the government has earmarked Rs 100 billion for school education sector, Rs 25 billion for higher education sector, Rs 80 billion for agriculture sector, Rs 70 billion for specialised health care, Rs 70 billion for transport sector, Rs 40 billion each for governance and IT, Planning and Development and irrigation sectors, Rs 25 billion for public buildings, Rs 12 billion for industries sector, Rs 30 billion for tourism, Rs 10 billion for wildlife, Rs 10 billion for fisheries, Rs 15 billion for environment, Rs 12 billion for skills development, Rs 7.6 billion for the sport sector.

Additionally, Rs 7.5 billion allocated for energy department, Rs 6 billion for water supply and sanitation, Rs 5.5 billion for Price Control and Commodities Management, Rs 5 billion for the forest department, Rs 5 billion for Livestock, Rs 4 billion each for Human Rights and Minority and Literacy, Rs 3 billion for Social Welfare, Rs 2 billion for Special Education and Rs 5 billion for Information and Culture.

Furthermore, mega projects of public transport are also included in the budget with focus on environment-friendly public transport.

The government has earmarked Rs 80 billion for the yellow line project to cover 24 kilometres from Thokar Niaz Baig Chowk to Harbanspura along the Lahore Canal, Rs 60 billion allocated for 600 electric buses and 33 bus depots for Lahore and other districts of Punjab, Rs 5.6 billion for the construction of Transport Command and Control Centre in Lahore, Rs 120 billion for starting metro bus service in Faisalabad, Rs 30 billion to start metro bus service in Gujranwala.