LAHORE : Punjab government presented Rs 193.5 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) under the annual budget for the fiscal year 2010-11 Monday with major focus on investments in infrastructure to accelerate the pace of economic growth. The ADP 2010-11 has been formulated in line with the medium term development goals under the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF).

The size of Punjab ADP for current fiscal is Rs 62 billion higher than last year's revised size. It may be noted that the core programme is Rs 148 billion, which is 76 percent of the total development outlay. Special emphasis has been laid on removal of inter-regional disparities and total allocation of Rs 52 billion has been proposed for eleven districts of Southern Punjab.

The development programme for the FY 2010-11 is geared towards achieving the goals of balanced and equitable growth with particular focus on Southern Punjab, backward districts like Jhang, Bhakkar, Khushab and Mianwali and the Barani areas of the Punjab. For the districts of Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakkar and Jhang, special block allocation of Rs 500 million per district has been earmarked in the current ADP.

Meanwhile, gender equality is an important pillar of the development programme with allocation of Rs 15 billion for ensuring greater share of female specific programmes and projects, especially in social sectors. The budget document suggests that Rs 12 billion is being provided for District Development Programme through Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) mechanism. The development strategy in this context is that smaller projects of local significance would be funded from the District's/TMA's budget. The larger projects would be funded from the provincial ADP.

Programme for small dams, sustainable livelihood development and construction of mini-dams etc have been specifically conceived for the Potohar region. Much emphasis is given on the ongoing projects and reduction of throw-forward, as 2049 out of 3081 (67 percent) schemes would be completed in 2010-11. The ADP is included number of pro-poor initiatives, skill development programmes, employment generation projects, I.T.-led knowledge based interventions etc.

The social sector has received 40 percent more in current fiscal against the corresponding ADP, followed by 15 percent by infrastructure development, 4 percent by the production sector, 194 percent by services sector, 262 percent by other sectors including environment, information, culture and youth affairs and religious affairs and Auqaf.

Out of Rs 68 billion for social sector, Rs 23 billion is allocated for education and Rs 14 billion for health sector. The provincial government has allocated Rs 59 billion for infrastructure development, Rs 7 billion each for production sector and services sector, Rs 6 billion for other sectors, Rs 34 billion for special programmes/packages, Rs 3 billion for Danish School System, Rs 2 billion for TEVTA/TEVTC and Rs 6 billion for DLIs for DMGs.

Meanwhile, the economists have expressed concern over the capacity to spend such a huge amount by the provincial government, especially when it had already revised last years ADP twice. Further, they said the federal government was heavily depending upon the financial aid from the Friends of Democratic Pakistan amidst highly crucial phase of war against terrorism.

Any delay in release of funds from the federal government, they feared, would make the current ADP of the Punjab government meaningless. It may be noted that a good number of development schemes, initiated in last fiscal, are already lying incomplete. The Punjab government has also allocated huge amounts on completion of ongoing development schemes, which means that the development process in the province would remain snail pace despite lucrative size of the current ADP.BR