‘Sindh to pass budget only for four months’

Funds for development and non-development sectors would be allocated for the entire financial year in the upcoming 2018-19 budget, but approval for utilisation would only be sought for the first four months of the fiscal year.

This was stated by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday while speaking to the media at a local hotel where he inaugurated the China-Pakistan Skilled & Technical Education International Conference. The moot was organised by the Sindh Board of Technical Education in collaboration with other partners.

The CM told reporters that there would be two components to when the government presents the budget in the provincial assembly next month – a supplementary budget for expenditures of the ongoing fiscal year and then the budget for 2018-19.

“Normally, the assembly passes the grants and if the amount of the expenditures exceeds the approved budget [for the year], the sitting government is responsible to get them [expenditures] approved from the assembly before the end of June,” he said.

Talking about the next budget, CM Shah said that allocations for salaries and other non-development expenditures would be made in the 2018-19 budget for the entire fiscal year, but approval for utilising the funds would only be sought for the first four months.

“Similarly, we will allocate budget for on-going development schemes for the whole financial year 2018-19 so that they can be completed, but again authentication for their utilisation would be made only for four months, up to September 2018,” Shah said, adding this would help the next government to make changes wherever it sees fit.

Replying to a question about him and two other chief ministers walking out from a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), the Sindh CM said that the NEC, which comprises 13 members and is headed by the Prime Minister, is a constitutional body and is bound to advise the provincial and the federal governments for a balanced development budget based on regional equity.

However, according to him, the federal government which wanted to approve the new Public Sector Development Programme had played a game with the smaller provinces, particularly Sindh.

Shah said the National Highway Authority has been given Rs15 billion for schemes in the year 2018-19 but Sindh has been given only a Rs4 billion share in that fund or roughly 4 per cent. Similarly, Water Sector/Irrigation had been given Rs27.5 billion of which Sindh has a Rs300 million share or 1.1 per cent; the Higher Education Commission has 22 new schemes of Rs6 billion of which Sindh has a Rs250 million share, while the power sector has been given new schemes worth Rs6 billion of which Sindh has given village electrification schemes of only Rs125 million.

“This shows that they had a plan to deprive smaller provinces in which no balance and equitable share was kept in mind while framing the new PSDP,” Shah said, explaining why he and two other CMs had walked out of the meeting.

Earlier, while addressing the China-Pakistan Skilled & Technical Education International Conference, the CM said that it would help different technical institutes of the province to partner and form affiliations with leading Chinese institutes.

“CPEC and its projects are going to open a floodgate for creating employment opportunities. Therefore, there would be a dire need for skilled staff and specialists or experts to establish and run the new projects,” he said.

CJM new campus

Meanwhile, Shah also performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the new campus of the Convent of Jesus & Mary School at Clifton Polo Ground.

Addressing on the occasion, the chief minister said that he was proud to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of a new campus of CJM School from where several leaders and the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, had received education.

He appreciated the efforts, hard work and dedication of Principal Sister Mary Langan and headmistress Sister Berchmans Conway and their team for not only maintaining the standard of education but improving it further every year.