The government has proposed including around 160 new schemes worth Rs2.2 trillion in next year’s Public Sector Development Program (PSDP). The PSDP is a vital policy instrument aiming to achieve the government’s sustainable economic growth and socio-economic objectives. The outgoing fiscal year (FY 2021-22) PSDP was made with a particular focus on strengthening the economic activities in the country. As a result of efficient and well-coordinated economic policies, the economy showed signs of recovery and the provincial GDP was estimated at 5.97 per cent for FY 2021-22. In the upcoming year 2021-22, the priority of the Government is to protect the projects of basic needs such as water, infrastructure, health, and education.
The government’s primary focus is to make a development plan for FY 2022-23 per the country’s needs. In this context, the government will allocate 90 per cent of funds for the ongoing schemes, while new projects will get only 10 per cent of the total size. The development plan includes improvement in transport and communication facilities with particular emphasis on inter-provincial and regional connectivity, investment in building large dams and water conservation systems as per the National Water Policy, augmenting and strengthening health sector infrastructure and service delivery, improving access to higher education, social protection, increasing employment and livelihood opportunities, reducing regional disparities, mitigating effects of climate change, building a knowledge economy, enhancing agricultural productivity, and ensuring food security and supporting Public Private Partnership initiatives through providing Viability Gap funding.
Under the federal PSDP 2022-23, the government is providing a significant share of the total volume to the Balochistan province. It will complete the ongoing schemes as soon as possible. Furthermore, in the upcoming development plan, a project to construct 250 mini sports stadiums has also been included, and these stadiums will be built in collaboration with the provinces. The government has also increased the allocation of funds for the projects under CPEC, especially in Gwadar. Also, the government has proposed a budget of Rs 50 billion for merged areas of FATA. According to the Planning Ministry, projects with 80 per cent expenditure have been fully financed for completion by June 2023. The government has proposed 55 per cent of the total allocation for the Infrastructure sector to ensure modern infrastructure and to attract foreign investment.
Moreover, about Rs83 billion (11 per cent of the total ) has been allocated to the water sector per the commitment made under the National Water Policy. An amount of Rs84 billion (11 per cent) has been earmarked for the energy sector. Within the social sectors, Health & Population, Rs 23 billion has been proposed. About Rs 45 billion for the education sector and Rs 60 billion have been proposed to achieve sustainable development goals and ensure development at the grass-root level. Similarly, the proposed outlay for Science & IT is Rs 25 billion. In addition, Rs18 billion for production sectors (industries, Food & Agriculture) and Rs 90 billion have been earmarked to make Viability Gap Funding to encourage private sector investment in infrastructure.
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