PESHAWAR: Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Azam Khan has taken up financial issues of the province in writing with the incumbent federal government to steer his province out of a financial crunch.
The caretaker chief minister has sent a formal letter to the prime minister to this effect in which he has requested for special support in order to minimise the financial difficulties faced by the province, said an official handout issued here on Tuesday.
According to details, it has been stated in the letter to the Prime Minister that the federal government had agreed to fund current and development budget of the merged areas.
However, there has been a gap in the transfers to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ever since the merger, for previous years as well as the ongoing financial year. Cumulatively the funding gap against federal budgetary committed allocation for NMDs for both current and development budget for the years 2019-20 to 2022-23 has reached an amount to Rs. 144.4 billion.
Similarly, only Rs. 75.5 billion has been received in the past four years for Accelerated Implementation Plan of NMDs against the total committed amount of Rs. 400 billion which results in the funding gap exceeding Rs. 469 billion whereas the funding shortfall in federal tax assignment is amount to Rs. 25 billion.
Besides Rs. 49.5 billion in terms of Net Hydel Profit (NHP) and Rs. 2.5 billion in terms of oil and gas royalty are also due with the federal government.
It was also stated in the letter that Rs. 935 million are required for timely completion of four irrigation dams being constructed under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the province. These dams can play a major role towards food security of the province.
The chief minister further requested for provision of Rs. 10 billion in flood relief assistance which was announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to the flood hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Similarly, re-allocation of 100 MMCFD gas from power to industrial sector was also requested in the letter. It was further requested in the letter that the matter regarding payment of Net Hydel Profit as per the AGN Qazi Committee methodology may be placed in the next meeting of CCI. The Chief Minister hoped that the Prime Minister would extend special cooperation for financial stability of the province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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