PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday unveiled a Rs923 billion tax-free budget for the financial year 2020-21, in which Rs124 billion has been allocated for the health sector.
In the last provincial budget, a huge amount of Rs184 billion had been allocated for merged areas of erstwhile FATA in budget to bring this hitherto neglected area at par with developed districts of the country.
Presenting the budget for financial year 2020-21 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly here, Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra said that total outlay of the budget was pitched at Rs923 billion - Rs739.1 billon for settled districts andRs183.9billion for merged districts.
Of the total outlay, the provincial government has earmarked Rs317.8 billion for Annual Development Program (ADP) - Rs221.9 billion for settled areas and Rs95.9billion for merged tribal districts.
Regarding the development expenditure, he said Rs317.8 billion was earmarked (Rs221.9 billion for settled districts and Rs95.9 billion for merged districts). He said a record Rs124 billion was allocated for the health sector for settled and merged districts, adding the budget for settled districts had been increased from Rs87 billion of outgoing fiscal to Rs105.9 billion for 2020-21 fiscal year.
For the development budget in the health sector, he said a total of Rs24.4 billion was allocated - Rs13.8 billion for settled districts and Rs10.6 for merged tribal districts. He said the government will lay its focus on ensuring adequate stock of equipment, medicines and increasing strength of doctors in public sector hospitals besides providing 'Sehat Insaf cards' to every family of the province; in this regard, Rs10 billion was allocated.
He said Rs36 billion earmarked for MTI hospitals including Rs26 billion for MTIs current budget and Rs4 billion for completion of key projects besides Rs6 billion for special demand funds for improving healthcare system in major hospitals.
Shortage of infrastructure and equipment in basic health units would be overcome and for this purpose an Rs13 billion project would be launched in collaboration with the World Bank.
Similarly, he said, the budget has been increased from Rs2.5 billion to four billion rupees for procurement of medicines in healthcare facilities besides acquiring services of private sectors with allocation of Rs one billion for waste management of hospitals. The Minister announced establishment of Rs24 billion "anti-coronavirus emergency program".
Taimur Jhagra said the health sector remained top priority of the PTI Government for which a record amount had been allocated in budget 2020-21. He said it was a tax-free budget.
Despite the growing Covid-19 challenge, total income was estimated at Rs36 billion for this year, which is 20 percent more than the last year; and had COVID-19 outbreak not surfaced the total income would have crossed Rs45 billion.
The Minister said special aspect of the budget was tax relief and tax reforms. He said due to the coronavirus crisis, the revenue of KP government was reduced and despite a difficult economic situation, the allocations for annual development program 2020-21 were maintained. He said Insaf health cards would be issued to all citizens of the province to provide them free treatment for major ailments.
Regarding the newly-merged districts, Jhagra said the provincial government is set to expand the Sehat Insaaf Card delivery in merged areas as well. He added Rs901 million would be disbursed among 3929 beneficiaries of Insaf Rozagar Scheme.
The minister said a robust measure for the expansion of new functions and services to the merged areas, including expansion and strengthening of judiciary, policing, local government, and social services, has been taken. This includes the creation of 18,000 posts in different sectors during the current financial year 2019-20.
He said the 24/7 operations at the Torkham border has increased the traffic flow, resulting in enhanced revenue and export value: Rs 27 billion increase in value of exports and Rs 3.5 billion increase in revenue collection through import duties and taxes. The budget envisages an allocation of Rs.77 billion for boosting trade, economic growth, and creation of 60,000 to 100,000 new jobs.
The minister said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has also allocated three percent of NFC share as additional resources in line with the commitment of the Federal Government at the time of merger.
The Finance Minister said maximum relief has been provided in taxes in budget 2020-21, adding the reforms in the KP Revenue Authority(KPRA) have yielded positive results as the income has enhanced from Rs10 billion to Rs17 billion.
While highlighting the annual development program 2020-21, the Finance Minister said RESCUE 112 services were being extended to six new districts including Tank,Upper Chitral, Upper Kohistan, Kolai Palas, Batagram and Torghar with allocation of Rs290 million in budget 2020-21.
He said the RESCU 1122 services have been extended to Lakki Marwat, Malakanad, Lower Kohistan and Shangla districts costing Rs210.5 million, adding the project would create 1000 new jobs.
To restore economy and generate employment opportunities, he said loan scheme for 10,000 SMEs would benefit over one million people, adding that Interest-free loans to 30,000 to business entrepreneurs would benefit 0.5 million people. He said 25,000 additional recruitments would be made to plant 190.5 million saplings under the 'Billions Trees' project and resources would be provided for establishment of 'marble city' in Buner district.
Moreover, Rs 290 million has been allocated for the implementation of Digital Jobs for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa project. For the health sector, he said, Sehat Insaf Cards under the health insurance scheme would be provided to all families of the province at a cost of Rs10 billion, 30,000-strong additional health staff would be recruited and Rs2.4 billion would be spent on integration of health services delivery program.
Rs 1.1 billion would be utilized on the uplift of non-teaching DHQs, new blocks would be constructed at Peshawar Institute of Cardiology and Khyber Teaching Hospital with an allocation of Rs4 billion while Rs900 million would be spent on treatment of poor cancer patients. He said Rs300 million was being spent on improvement of 200 BHUs and Rs200 million allocated for establishment of a medical college in Timergara Lower Dir.
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