BUDGET 2020-21: Sindh reduces ADP to Rs232.9bn.

Byline: Shahid Iqbal

KARACHI -- Due to low inflows from the centre, Sindh government has redAuced its Annual DevelopAment Plan (ADP) to Rs232.9 billion for FY21, allocating Rs155bn to provincial and Rs15bn to schemes.

The provincial government also expects Rs54.6bn from Foreign Projects Assistance and Rs8.3bn from the Federal PSDP for 10 schemes under execution by the Sindh administration.

As per the document, the administrative department in Sindh was earlier advised to prepare proposals for provincial ADP FY21 at the size same as that of 2019-20 while allocating 85 per cent for ongoing schemes and 15pc for new ones.

'The throw forward amount in Provincial ADP 2020-21 has reached Rs564bn, compared to Rs606bn in 2019-20,' said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

85pc allotted to ongiong schemes, remaining to new ones

In exceptional cases such as health, allocation has been increased from Rs13.5bn to Rs23.5bn in order to meet the challenges arising from Covid-19.

The government allocated Rs14.8bn for the agri sector, up from Rs10.6bn in FY20. Another Rs30.48bn has been allotted to the health department while Rs5bn for Covid-19 response.

About Rs9.5bn has been earmarked for Education Foundation; the amount was allocated for the previous fiscal FY20. The government has also proposed to set aside Rs666 million for the Home Department and Rs784m for the Law and Parliamentary Affairs.

The development budget for local government has been allocated as Rs21.17bn and Rs4.46bn outlayed for the mass transit programme.

Details showed that the government has allocated Rs14.74bn for irrigation in FY21.

For 2020-21, the budget for the education sector, in a macro perspective, has been increased to Rs244.5bn, compared with Rs212.4bn for the previous fiscal year.

Despite financial constraints, the government allocated 25.2pc of the funds for current expenditure.

In ADP, the education sector got Rs21.1bn for 397 ongoing schemes and 11 new, but unapproved ones. An allotment of Rs3.1bn has been provided under foreign projects assistance (FPA) in addition to the provincial development budget resource allocation.

The School...