KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah addressing the post-budget press conference said Wednesday that the next year Rs1.73 trillion budget has 69.9 percent or Rs1.199 trillion current revenue expenditures, 3.18 percent or Rs54.5 billion current capital expenditures and 26.8 percent or Rs459.65 billion development expenditures.

“The current revenue expenditures (CRE) of Rs1.199 trillion could not be termed as non-development expenditures as it has 2.9 percent or Rs35.360 billion repair and maintenance (R and M) budget which itself is part of development budget,” he said and added the CRE had also 21.4 percent or Rs256.605 billion grants for educational, health institutions and for procurement of buses for BRT routes and subsidies for social protection and right-off loans, 14.5 percent or Rs174.229 billion employees retirement benefits, 12.3 percent or Rs147.449 billion operating expenses and 42.5 percent or 509.732 billion employees related expenses.

Mr Shah said that the non-development expenditures would not be more than 60 percent of the total budget but even then his government was trying to control them. The CM said, “Yes, the burden of Rs174.229 billion of employees retirement benefits is huge on the provincial exchequer and needs to be controlled,” he said and added his government was working on a scheme to introduce a new pension plan.

To a question, the chief minister said that his government was preparing a policy to offer registration of electric vehicles free of cost. “The POL prices are increasing day by day, therefore, our government is planning to offer free registration of electric vehicles as an incentive,” he said and added he would announce the policy once it was approved by the cabinet.

Replying to a question, the chief minister said that the 40 percent POL quota of the government officers had been curtailed keeping in view the 40 percent increase in POL prices. “The POL allowance of the officers is the same in terms of money, but the commodity price has increased by 40 percent which means they [officers] would be able to purchase 40 percent less POL from their allowance,” he elaborated. Therefore, according to the CM, the non-development expenditures would not be more than 60 percent of the total budget.

Karachi: The chief minister, replying to a question said that the total development outlay for Karachi in 2022-23 was Rs.125 billion. Giving break-up of the amount and the schemes, Shah said that Rs80.077 billion had been allocated for 750 Karachi specific schemes of which Rs60.686 billion were for 483 ongoing schemes and Rs19.390 billion for 267 news schemes.

The CM said that Rs5 billion had been allocated from District ADP and Rs40.715 billion for seven projects through Foreign Project Assistance which include Competitive and Livable City of Karachi Project (Click), Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP), Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) Phase-I and Phase-II for Environmental, Social Safeguards and Design Studies, Solid Waste Emergency and Efficiency Program (SWEEP), Construction of BRT Red Line Karachi and Karachi Urban Mobility Project – BRT Yellow Line.

The chief minister also counted around 32 mega projects, including Safe City for Rs5 billion (its pilot part would be completed next year), dual carriageway Manghopir Road to Shahrah-e-Qaddafi for Rs12.19 billion, Renovation of Karachi Fish Harbour for Rs1.6 billion for which Rs309.6 million has been allocated, and rehabilitation of storm water drains Phase-II for Rs1 billion.

Medical City: The chief minister announced Gambat, a small town of Khairpur district, as Medical City. “A new term of Medical Tourism has been coined for the cities where people would go for their medical treatment,” he said and added Gambat would provide all kinds of medical facilities by establishing a healthcare related institution.

Talking about the health sector, the CM said that Rs219.787 billion had been allocated for the health sector which include Rs196.453 billion non-development and Rs23.334 billion development budget.

He added that single line grants amounting to Rs66.151 billion would be given to different institutes, trusts and NGOs. PPHI will get Rs11.481 billion (an increase of 40% than 2021-22), NICVD Rs12.539 billion, SIUT Rs10 billion (40% increased), GIMS Rs6 billion (50% increase), JPMC Rs594 million for installation of robotic surgical system, SMBB Institute of Trauma Karachi Rs2.4 billion (20% increase), EPI vaccination Rs3.5 billion (75% increase), Institute of Infectious Disease NIPA Rs1.09 billion, free treatment of Thalassemia patients Rs290 million (12% increase), four children health care institutions Rs1.7 billion, CMC Larkana for 50-bedded medical and surgical, Rs1 billion for plants and machinery for existing health facilities, Rs1 billion for PCR kits.

Energy Sector: The chief minister said that currently, a 660MW coal-based energy was being produced from Thar Block-II and by the end of next year, 2000MW coal-fired power would be generated. “Thar has the capacity to meet not only the total energy requirement of the country but can export its additional production to earn the foreign exchange,” he said and emphasized on how to tap its maximum potential.

Shah said that he had laid the foundation stone of Rs35 billion Nabisar-Vajihar water infrastructure project. “This project has been launched under public private partnership with a Kuwait-state company,” he said and added the transition has won two awards- `Best innovative Islamic Transition and Best Islamic Transition Financing in Pakistan’.

He said that his government was planning to convene an investment conference in Kuwait to attract more investment. The CM said that the energy sector had been given Rs32.92 billion, including Rs2.55 billion development and Rs30.37 billion non-development budget. He added that the energy portfolio had been increased by Rs6.992 billion for next FY.

Rs1 billion has been allocated for Electricity Monitoring and Reconciliation Cell, Karachi, Rs100 million for Sindh Coal Authority and Rs22.470 million for Directorate of Alternative Energy sources such as sunlight (solar) wind, waste, biomass and water etc.

According to CM, Rs15.5 million has been allocated for survey of domestic biogas, Rs75 million for gas supply to Gadap Town, Rs250 million for seven schemes of solarization of schools in Kashmore, Kandhkot, Dadu, Shikarpur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Larkana, Tharparkar and Sanghar districts, Rs50 million for electrification of primary health facilities through solar PV in Hyderabad and Tando Mohammad Khan districts and 100 million for installation of solar system tube wells upto two cusecs.

Electricity Dues: The chief minister said that Rs21 billion had been earmarked for payment of electricity dues of HESCO/SEPCO, KE, local councils, KWSB, and other departments.

Education: The chief minister said that we had a 65 percent population of youth upto 35 years of age. “Therefore, we have decided to establish universities or campuses of university in every district so that they could impart technical education,” he said and added his government was going to announce a five-year IT policy.

Mr Shah announced that he had given 100 percent allocation to the projects of universities/campuses so that they could be completed within one or two years. He added that Thar Technical Institute was already working in Thar and it would be made a full-fledged university during the next financial year.

The chief minister sharing the data of some of the important sectors said that education [sector] had been allocated Rs326.687 billion, including Rs29.47 billion non-development and Rs34.217 billion development budget. He added that primary education had Rs93.9 billion, secondary Rs50.8 billion, education administration Rs45.7 billion, college Rs26.7 billion, higher secondary Rs20.5 billion, middle education Rs18.9 billion, grants to universities Rs18.7 billion, medical education Rs10.5 billion and technical education Rs6.3 billion.

The CM announced that youth centers were also being established in every district for which 100 percent allocation had been made. The youth centers would have auditorium, library, tuck-shop, TV hall, gym and such other facilities. “The purpose is to provide healthy activities to our youth,” he said and added they [youth] could earn their livelihood by involving themselves into IT industry, artificial intelligence projects and literary activities.

The chief minister thanked Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for including three schemes in water sector and four schemes of road sector in the federal PSDP. The water sector scheme includes construction of three small dams and Rs20 billion have been allocated for K-IV.

The road sector schemes include dualization of Mehran Highway from Nawabshah to Ranipur. “We have already constructed this important road but now it would be dualiused under PSDP,” he said. The other road is from Mundh Jamro (Sanghar district) to Sukkur through desert and construction of roads in Ghotki upto Ubaro and dualization of Tando Adam to Tando Allahyar.

Mr Shah deplored that the PTI government during their three and half years tenure in Islamabad did not release funds even for the ongoing scheme launched by their predecessors. At the outset of the press conference, the CM condemned the incident that happened in Sindh Assembly on Tuesday where PTI MPAs carrying placards staged protests in front of him when he was presenting the budget for the next year. He added that the protest turned into foul language they used against the PPP leadership.