The spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, Asim Khan has highlighted that the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform has released amount for Development projects during the period July-December, 2017-2018 in different sectors which is considerably higher than funds released during the correspondent period during the fiscal year 2016-2017. The spokesman said that under the directions of the Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, all out support is being provided to the executing organizations to complete projects for well-being of the people in different walks of life. The Ministry is regularly holding meetings of development forum for reviewing the status of funds releases and approving new and revised scheme in order to facilitate execution, stated the spokesman.
The spokesman said, “Funds have been released for projects of all sectors included i.e Energy, Water, Transport & Communications, Physical Planning & Housing, Health & Population, Education, Governance, Science & Information Technology, Special Areas and Environment, youth, health etc.
Furthermore Asim Khan maintained that the Federal government has released the total amount of Rs 315,013 Million for the Infrastructure sector during July-December 2017 whereas it was Rs 218,208 during the same period last year which is 44% higher than the last year. The projects include Power, Fuel, Transport & Communications, Water and Physical Planning & Housing.
The spokesman further elaborated that Rs.26,626 Million have been released by the Federal government for the Social sector whereas Rs 24,540 Million were released during the same period (July-December 2016). Hence the increase as compared to last year in social sector is 8.5% higher than the same time period of 2016-2017. Projects included in Social sector were Health, Population Welfare, Education & Training, Higher Education, CSTY, Environment, Manpower & Employment, Mass Media, Rural Development, and Social Welfare.
Asim Khan said that Federal government has released Rs 5,059 Million for Science & IT sector. Again Rs 3,986 Million were released during the first half of the last year. In the Governance section, Rs 6,356 Million have been released by the federal government while in the previous year Rs 3,492 Million were released.
The spokesman further emphasized that in the Special Areas (AJK, GB, FATA) sector, Rs 30,220 Million have been released this year whereas Rs 24, 554 Million were released in 2016 which is 23% higher in this sector. The total PSDP of this year is 417,619 Million while it was Rs 306,198 Million for the same period (July -December 2016), which is 36.4% higher as compared to the first 6 months of releases made during the period of July-December 2016.
