KP govt sets record in taking loans

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has plunged the province into loans of around Rs3 trillion, which would take nearly 40 years to return.

While talking to Geo News, KP Deputy Information Secretary Shaukat Yousufzai said the need arose as the Centre would not disburse funds to the province on time. He added they would pay back the loans by generating money from projects for which the funds have been borrowed. However, the loans are said to burden the people of KP as they would be paid back over decades to come on a markup of 0.6-2 percent.

As per documents available with Geo News, the PTI government has taken loans of nearly Rs3 trillion. Out of the amount, nearly Rs99 billion is for three projects, including the Bus Rapid Transit scheme in Peshawar. The PTI government borrowed Rs41.88 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the BRT alone, while the remaining approximately Rs57 billion were being spent on electricity, schools, solarisation of basic health units and Pehur High Level Canal in Swabi.

Other than the received amount, the documents state that the incumbent provincial government is waiting on around Rs2 trillion for 10 other projects from organisations, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

It is said that PTI borrowed five times more money than the previous government — of Awami National Party in KP — did. The ANP government borrowed approximately Rs21 billion during their tenure in 2007-2013.

However, the PTI information secretary said that the loans taken in the past went to people’s pockets instead of being spent on development work. He added the PTI government would give details on use of each and every penny from the money they have borrowed.