The provincial government will allocate maximum resources for the development of social sector, instead of increasing current expenditure, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Minister for Finance Mohammad Hamayun Khan said on Thursday.
Addressing a pre-budget meeting organised for members of provincial assembly here under the auspices of the Department of Finance, he said that budget had been prepared while keeping in view available resources.
The pre-budget jirga was part of a series of such meetings initiated by the provincial government to take stakeholders into confidence regarding the budget-making process.
One such seminar has already been held in Mardan while the last function will be held in Abbottabad. The provincial finance minister said that it was impossible to built schools, hospitals and roads overnight, adding that the budget-making process was a very complicated matter.
The finance minister said that the recommendations and proposals presented by legislators after the inclusion of presentations in the cabinet in the annual budget. He said that the provincial government would also be arranging such sessions with traders and other stakeholders.
He said that for the provision of employment of opportunities, the provincial government had initiated a self-employment scheme titled Bacha Khan Khpal Rozgar Scheme and over the past two years, it had allocated Rs2 billion. He said that the scheme was being implemented through the Bank of Khyber in a transparent manner.
Similarly, he said that Benazir Health Card was another people-welfare initiative for poor patients of hepatitis. He said that last year, the provincial government had introduced another self-employment scheme for skilled people.
Regarding complaints of legislators in the acceptances of SNEs for recruitment of staff for newly-completed schemes, the minister urged them to raise the matter with the executive district officers (EDOs) concerned. He assured them that the finance department would create posts in this regard.
Hamayun Khan said that the provincial government was making all out efforts for utilising the province's hydel potentials. He said that tenderfor the establishment of a hydel project in Bahrain (Swat) has been floated while work on two other projects, Lawi and Matlitan, would start soon. He said that the provincial government had diverted Rs30 billion to the Hydel Development Fund.
He assured legislators that development schemes identified by them would be included in the province's Annual Development Programme. In the education sector, he said that eight universities would be set up in the province.
Earlier, Provincial Minister for Sports and Tourism, Aqil Shah, and members of the provincial assembly highlighted problems of their respective constituencies and called for the inclusion of their proposals in the budget and development programme.
Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan, Irrigation Minister Syed Ahmad Hussein Shah, Minister for Sports and Tourism Aqil Shah, Minister for Law Arshad Abdullah, Minister for Environment Wajid Ali Khan, Minister for S&IT Mohammad Ayub Khan, Minister for Religious Affairs Haji Nimroz Khan, Minister for Zakat Zarshid Khan and Minister for Technical Education Mehmood Zeb Khan attended the meeting. It was presided over by Speaker of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Kiramatullah Khan.