KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the development Sector generates employment opportunities, rotate capital in the economy and creates development activities etc. He added that the policy makers always attach priority to the development sector, this depends on the availability of funds after the allocation of operational expenditures of a government such as payment of salaries and utilities etc, Important initiative of a government is the establishment of basic infrastructures of the country that acts as a catalyst for the domestic and foreign investments.

This he said while giving a pictorial presentation to the chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto in a specially organized programme here at the CM House today. The programme was attended by former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and provincial minister, chairman PD and Principal secretary to CM. The programme was attended by senior journalists and anchor persons.

Education : He said that Budgetary Provisions has been enhanced from Rs.120,502.386 million in 2013-14 to Rs.205,019.621 million for 2018-19 which is 71 percent increase. He added that more 20,000 new posts were created during the last five years. Over Rs23.87 million were utilized for the repair maintenance of Schools and colleges.

Murad Shah said that during the last 5 years, funds for MR were increased from Rs.4.38 million in 2013-14 to Rs5.625 million in 2017-18, this shows an increase of 28.4 percent He said , Sindh Education Foundation’s budget enhanced from Rs2.215 billion to Rs.9.593billion, Grants in aid for Universities is continued with Rs5 billion throughout the years. Budget for EMOs (Education Management Organizations) enhanced from Rs. 0.2 billion to Rs1 billion and funds for provision of Free Text Books increased from Rs. 1.4 billion to Rs. 2.1billion and position holders were given and A-1 graders were given Rs. 0.9 billion to Rs. 1.2 billion during last 2 years and funds for Free Registration of students in the boards were also increased from Rs1.0 billion to Rs2.0 billion during the last 2 years. The Sindh government 28 Degree Colleges and 50 Schools with comprehensive/Cambridge system have been established throughout province.

Health: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the budgetary Provisions for health sector was enhanced from Rs. 36,400.538 million in 2013-14 to Rs. 99,537.270 million in 2018-19.

 This shows an increase of 174 percent. He added that the 38,010 new posts were created during the last five years. The Repair Maintenance budget of Health facilities has been increased from Rs. 256 million in 2013-1410 to Rs. 1.28 billion in 2018-19 (this shows a 500 percent increase). 

Grant to NICVD enhanced from Rs. 400 million to Rs. 8.870 billion, grants to SIUT enhanced from Rs. 2 billion to Rs. 5.6 billion, grant to PPHI enhanced from Rs. 2.26 billion to Rs. 5.84 billion, Grant for Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences has been enhanced from Rs. 500 million to Rs. 2 billion, Grant for Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences enhanced from Rs. 100 million to Rs. 1250 million. 

The management of health facilities became more effective through Private Partners in PPP mode. He said that Accelerated Action Plan’s allocation enhanced from Rs. 2.4 billion in 2017-18 to Rs. 5.1 billion for NFY 2018-19

Law Order: Talking about law and order, the chief minister said that budgetary Provisions have been enhanced from Rs. 54,429.334 million in 2013-14 to Rs.113,640.708 million in 2018-19 ( It is a 109 percent). 48,944 new Posts were created during the last five years in Sindh Police. For Repair Maintenance of Police offices/buildings Rs. 2.339 billion were spent during the last five years.

 During the last five years (2013-14 to 2017-18) the Special Security unit has been strengthened with an investment of Rs. 672.672 million to Rs. 2.175 billion and then Rs. 8.785 billion for procurement of Arms Ammunition. Rs. 10.388 billion were provided for Operational Vehicles from 2013-14 to 2017-18, Rs. 513.380 million was in 2016-17 Rs. 172.134 million in \ 2017-18 were provided for capacity building/training of police personnel. 

In order to strengthen the Jails’ Security new 1923 recruitments were made, 14 Special Courts (Anti-Terrorism) were created for Rs. 7.539 billion in 2017-18. Human Rights Department was set up in Sindh an allocation of Rs. 58.094 million in 2017-18.

Irrigation: Murad Shah said that Irrigation department has been given special attention. Its budget has been increased from Rs. 14.36 billion in 2013-14 to Rs. 22.74 billion for 2018-19. This shows an increase of 58 percent, 2601 new recruitments were made in lower grades. During 2016-17 contingent/Work charge basis staff of LBOD Drainage Divisions of Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and Shaheed Benazirabad were regularized.

Energy: Energy department is most important department and it has the capacity to over come energy crisis of the country, particularly of Sindh. It budget has been increased from Rs. 305.671 million in 2013-14 to Rs. 23.88 billion in 2018-19. It is an increase of 77.14 percent. Rs. 20 billion has allocated for 2018-19 for clearance of the liabilities of electricity charges of HESCO SEPCO, Rs. 3 billion are kept for Power Subsidy for Captive Power Plants, Rs. 128.120 million are kept as Grant-in Aid for Thar Coal Energy Board, Rs. 100 million for Grant-in Aid for Sindh Coal Authority, Rs. 50 million for Grant/Seed Money for Sindh Energy Holding Company (Pvt.) Ltd for onward release to Sindh Transmission Dispatch Company(STDC).

Women Development: Murad Shah said that the budget for women development has been increased from Rs. 64.522 million in 2013-14 to Rs. 433.96 million CFY 2017-18. This is an increase of 700 percent. Rs. 16.571 million were allocated for seven new interventions namely one Day Care Center in Karachi and six Women Complaint Cells. Rs. 135 million are allocated for provision of legal aid to poor women children in distress, Rs. 100 million for Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation and Compensation for victims of acid crimes. In 2017-18, Rs. 19.96 million are provided for establishment of Sindh Commission on the Status of Women, Rs. 100 million for Shah Abdul Latif Bhitti Complex Islamabad as Grant for Sindh Graduates Association

Social Welfare: The social welfare budget has been increased from Rs. 937.345 million in 2013-14 to Rs 1.6 billion for 2017-18. It is an increase of 71 percent, Rs. 34 million provided as Dietary Charges for 18 Rehabilitation Centers, including four Dar-ul Amans and three Dar-ul Atfals, Rs. 36 million as Grant-in Aid provided to Pakistan Sweet Home, Rs. 33.014 million to Pakistan Sweet Home for installation of Solar System and for purchase of four Coasters for pick/drop facility of kids, Rs. 10.54 million for establishing three new Community Development Offices at Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur for Trans-genders, Rs. 200 million have been provided for Child Protection Authority

Minorities: Its budget has been increased from Rs. 175.6 million in 2013-14 to Rs. 848.324 million for 2018-l9. It shows an increase of 383 percent. Murad Shah said that about 45156 persons of minority communities have benefited. Grant for Minorities increased from Rs. 100 million in 2013-14 to Rs. 750 million for 2018-19. He said that Sindh government has enacted Hindu Marriage Act, 2016 and its Rules 2017 have also been approved. Further, Sindh government is considering “The Hindu (Amendment) Marriage Bill, 20l8” in view to improve the access of all Hindu communities to legal assistance. The government has established five Regional Offices at Divisional level.

Public Health Engineering: The budget of PHE dept has been increased from Rs. 1.09 billion in 2013-14 to Rs. 7.03 billion in 2018-19 with an increase of 543 percent. Major provisions proposed in 2018-19. A amount of Rs. 5.02 billion have been allocated for RO Plants which includes rehabilitation of 2286 RO Plants for Rs. 2.3 billion, Operation Maintenance for each District to cost Rs. 1.2 billion, Maintenance for defected RO Plants to cost Rs. 385 million, RM of existing RO plants to cost Rs. 1.02 billion.

Major Achievements: Murad Ali Shah said that the allocation for development portfolio of the province has substantially been increased during last 10 years. It has grown from Rs.89 billion in 2008-09 to Rs.244 billion in 2017-18 (173 percent increase). He added that 2,949 development schemes have been completed from July 2008 to June 2017. During current 2017-18, 714 development schemes would be completed by the end of June 2018. From 2015-l6 to onward, the releases policy of funds has been linked with the performance of utilization and during 2016-17, the releases volume has been increased upto to Rs.209 billion as against of Rs.148 billion during in 2015-l6. The increase has been reported to 42 percent. During F2013-14 the total expenditure reported to Rs.107 billion under Provincial and District ADP, during 2016-17, the Provincial Government’s Development Expenditure reported to Rs.194 billion as against of Rs.109 billion of 2013-14, the substantial increase reported to 81 percent on the development expenditure during 2016-17 as against 2013-14 under Provincial and District ADP.

Share of National Constituency Schemes will be Rs.100.0 million as against Rs.40.0 for each constituency under Community Development Goals(SDGs). During 2017-18 shares of the District ADP has also been Re-allocated during FY 2016-17 to all districts, minimum benchmark has been fixed to Rs.500 million for lowest allocated districts, allocation for 2017-18 has been kept to Rs.30 billion for the District ADP as against of Rs.25 billion for 2016-17, Increased amount of Rs.5 billion has been kept for reducing of throw forward of respective districts. This shows substantial increase to 20 percent during 2017-18 as against FY 2016-17.

Governance Reforms: Talking about governance reforms, the chief minister said that the Economic Reform Unit (ERU) has undertaken some activities to implement reforms under the Sindh Public Sector Management Reform Project (SPSMRP). In this project, Public Financial Management is a cross-cutting theme that can affect public service delivery and economic development in the fashion it is practiced. The major efforts of reforms are focused on:

Institutional Development: The Government has established Debt Management Unit to systematically manage provincial debt portfolio on modern lines; Tax Reform Unit to initiate evidence-led tax policy formulation - based on research and empirical analysis. lt also lends support to coordination among provincial tax collecting agencies, and better tax administration; Internal Audit Unit, initially in Finance, Education, Health, and Home Departments, prepared risk-based audit plan and conducted internal audits.

Improvement in Legal and Regulatory Framework: The notable efforts include preparation of Public Finance Administration Act, 2018, Internal Audit Manual, Internal Audit Charter, 2018, External Debt Manual, Sindh Financial Rules, Treasury Rules, Capacity Development Strategy, Budget Manual; and (ix) Planning Manual.

Sindh Tax Revenue Mobilization Plan (STRMP): The tax receipts have increased from Rs. 91.37 billion to Rs. 185.62 billion (BE 2017-18) in three years after the implementation of STRMP. Sindh Revenue Board publishes its quarterly and annual reports to publicly share its performance. Sales Tax on Services collection has increased from Rs. 33.67 billion to Rs. 100 billion (BE 2017-18) during last 5 years, with 24.32 percent annual compound growth rate.

Transparency in Budget Formulation Execution: Murad Ali Shah said that the Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) is now a regular feature to make budget formulation process more transparent and participative. Along with BSP, Quarterly Budget Execution Reports (QBERs) are published to ensure transparency in budget execution by providing detailed information on budget allocation (original and revised) and actual expenditure incurred during each quarter.

Capacity Development: Need-based specific capacity development trainings are being imparted related to the areas of in public procurement, medium term budgeting framework, financial management, taxation, SAP, and advanced excel.

Monitoring of Annual of Development Program Schemes: Monitoring dashboard has started to prepare monitoring and evaluation reports initially for four departments that are being published on the website of Planning Development Department.

Improvement in Legal and Regulatory Framework: The notable efforts include preparation of Public Finance Administration Act, 2018, Internal Audit Manual, Internal Audit Charter, 2018, External Debt Manual, Sindh Financial Rules, Treasury Rules, Capacity Development Strategy, Budget Manual; and Planning Manual.

Sindh Tax Revenue Mobilization Plan (STRMP): Murad Shah said that the tax receipts have increased from Rs. 91.37 billion to Rs. 185.62 billion (BE 2017-18) in three years after the implementation of STRMP. SRB publishes its quarterly and annual reports to publicly share its performance. STS collection has increased from Rs. 33.67 billion to Rs. 100 billion (BE 2017-18) during last 5 years, with 24.32 percent annual compound growth rate.

Transparency in Budget Formulation Execution: The chief minister said that the Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) is now a regular feature to make budget formulation process more transparent and participative. Along with BSP, Quarterly Budget Execution Reports (QBERs) are published to ensure transparency in budget execution by providing detailed information on budget allocation (original and revised) and actual expenditure incurred during each quarter.

Capacity Development: Concluding his presentation, the chief minister said that the need-based specific capacity development trainings are being imparted related to the areas of in public procurement, medium term budgeting framework, financial management, taxation, SAP, and advanced excel, Monitoring of Annual of Development Program Schemes, Monitoring dashboard has started to prepare monitoring and evaluation reports initially for four departments that are being published on the website of Planning Development Department