Fiscal year 2019 development outlay: MoF sets ceiling of Rs 750 billion against Rs 1.3 trillion PC demand

Secretary Planning, Development and Reforms Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui Friday said that Planning Commission has proposed Rs 1.3 trillion development budget for the next financial year under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) but the Finance Ministry gave a ceiling of Rs 750 billion, which is 25 percent less than portfolio of Rs 1,001 billion for the current fiscal year 2017-18. "If the Finance Ministry does not consider our demand for development budget then we will not be able to launch new development projects in coming fiscal year 2018-19. Water crisis is a serious issue for the country and we need more funds for implementation of National Water Policy in future," the secretary expressed these views at an informal chat with mediapersons.
He said that Finance Ministry gave ceiling of Rs 645 billion for Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and Rs 105 billion for Special Development Program. He said that the meetings of Priorities Committees are ongoing in which relevant ministries have shown their concerns and indicated that the ceiling amount given by Finance Ministry is less.
The secretary planning said that he received many phone calls from various ministries and callers expressed their concerns, saying how they would launch new schemes if Finance Ministry does not accept their demands. He said that there would be no space for new projects if Finance Ministry does not increase amount. He said that Planning Commission has written a letter to Finance Ministry to consider its demand.
He said, "Rs 750 billion gross development budget would make it difficult for us to carry out the current pace of work on road, power and water projects." Answering a question, Shoaib Siddiqui said that a meeting of Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) may be held on April 15 or 16 because it is up to the availability of the minister. He said that a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) may be held on April 20.
Answering another question, he said that there is no change in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. "However, we have requested Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the involvement of Economic Affairs Division in the CPEC projects," he added. He said that there are concessional and commercial loans and grants for CPEC projects. He added, "We have maximum concessional financing for CPEC projects." He said that a sub-group for agriculture sector has been constituted for cooperation between Pakistan and China.
Answering another question, he said that funding has been committed for Western route under CPEC. He said that the government is giving priority to development projects of Balochistan, particularly for Gwadar Port, under CPEC. Hassan Dawood Butt, Deputy Project Director CPEC also told the journalists that Gwadar Port has been operational since March 7. He said that shipping services have been started from Gwadar to Karachi and Karachi to Shanghai and Dubai.
According to the sources, the Finance Ministry is of the view that the outgoing government should not allocate funds for new development schemes and this should be left for the next government. The sources in the Finance Ministry said that the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms wants that at least Rs 200 billion should be reserved in the new budget so that the next government may finance projects of its choice.