Karachi:
Sindh’s prime minister Murad Ali Shah described a fiscal and development development agenda for the province, while highlighting serious financial challenges and federal deficits.
When heading to a press conference after the budget on Saturday, the CM criticized the Federal Government for not fulfilling its financial commitments, revealing that Sindh was informed only one day before the presentation of the budget that RS105 billion in expected funds would withdraw.
Sindh has received RS1,478.5 billion of the divisible group since last year, but RS422.3 billion is still pending. He expressed the hope that the retained amount is disbursed at the end of June.
Despite being under an IMF program that requires strict fiscal discipline, the Sindh government will assign RS590 billion for development projects this year, with a total budget of RS3.45 billion, RS1 billion for development and RS2.15 billion for current expenses.
In particular, RS1.1 billion is intended for wages and pensions, which leads to 12 percent salary increases for lowest -degree employees and 10 percent for higher grades.
Increases in the sector budget include a 18 percent increase in education financing and a 11 percent increase in health. Financing for agriculture, irrigation and local government projects has also seen significant impulses.
In addition, RS236 billion for infrastructure projects in Karachi, including public-private association initiatives.
CM Shah highlighted Sindh’s social welfare achievements, particularly in homes for flood victims, with 500,000 built houses and another 850,000 under construction, for a total of 1.3 million.
To improve the standard of rural living, the CM announced a project of RS600 billion for rural water and sanitation, benefiting 4.5 million villagers.
With respect to taxes, Murad said that new taxes were not introduced in the budget, with some taxes eliminated or reduced, including the abolition of entertainment tax and the cuts to restaurant taxes. The timbre tax in third -party vehicles insurance has been reduced to RS50, with an insurance tax drop from 15 percent to five percent.
To modernize governance, the Sindh government is digitizing land records through the block chain to facilitate access. The CM said that free laser lightness will be provided to small farmers, with subsidies for the largest, together with the implementation of cluster agricultural technology. The CM said that improvements in education and health include the establishment of 34,000 new caste centers and expanded support for people with disabilities.
Cognitive remediation
The CM described the structure of the K-4 water project, where the federal government is responsible for obtaining water from Lake Keenjhar, while the Sindh government manages the distribution and has assigned the necessary funds. A total of RS20 billion are allocated to the K-4 feeder, along with the plans for a expensive desalination plant of five million gallons.
The CM also pointed out between 20,000 and 25,000 work vacancies in grades I to IV, with recruitment plans through tests administered by BPS-V to VII and filling higher positions of grade 16. The CM mentioned the conditions of Sindh to support the federal budget, emphasizing the equitable distribution of the development schemes and the harmful cut of the university financing of the university financing of RS4 billion millions, which has caused protests.
On the Critical Highway of Sukkur-Hyderabad, the CM expressed concern about half of the federal financing of RS30 billion to RS15 billion.
The CM emphasized that the main projects are not included in the Federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and criticized the 18 percent tax in solar panels as unfair. He warned that the Popular Party of Pakistan would not support the federal budget if it is not resolved.
