63pc of CDA's budget set aside for development projects.

Byline: Kashif Abbasi

ISLAMABAD -- The city managers on Wednesday approved record Rs49 billion budget for the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for financial year 2020-21.

For the year 2019-20, CDA's revised budget was around Rs20 billion with Rs17.6 billion for non-development expenditure and only Rs2.5 billion for development expenditures.

The CDA board headed by Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed approved the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

According to budgetary documents, for financial year 2020-21, Rs24.5 billion, which is 63pc of the total budget, will be spent on 89 projects while Rs14.4 billion, which is 37pc, will be utiised for non-development expenditure.

Record Rs49bn approved for fiscal year 2020-21

Officials said if translated into reality, the budget will bring about massive development activities in the capital as funds have been earmarked for 66 new and 23 ongoing development schemes.

The budget document shows that for the upcoming fiscal year, CDA was mostly relying on the sale of commercial and residential plots.

'CDA has approved a landmark development-focused budget with a total outlay of Rs49 billion with a surplus of Rs10 billion for the financial year 2020-2021.

As per approved budget estimates, expected receipts are Rs49 billion while the expected expenditure is Rs39 billion,' said CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain.

'You will be surprised to know last year, we spent Rs2.5 billion on development projects and Rs17.6 billion on non-development expenditure. For the first time in the history of CDA, 64pc of the total budget is meant for development projects,' said CDA member finance Rana Shakeel Asgher through his video message to mediapersons.

He said the budget was designed to bring improvement in the city and provide maximum facilities to citizens.

He said besides other projects, allocation was also made in the budget...