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Pakistan Budget
2004-05
NHA gets major chunk for dualisation of N5, M1 and Lowari
Tunnel
ISLAMABAD: The completion of country's road communication
network gets top priority of the government during the next
financial year and a major chunk of funds allocated for
Transport and Communication sector goes to the National
Highway
Authority NHA.
The PSDP envisages an allocation of Rs 35052.17 million for
the sector during 2004-05 as against a revised expenditure of
Rs 34646.55 million during 2003-04.
The allocation includes Rs.17932.17 million for the Budgetary
Programme and Rs.17120.00 million for the Budgetary
Corporations Programme (NHA).
The priority areas are dualization of National Highway (N-5)
on different Sections, Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-l),
Mekran Coastal Road, Karachi Northern Bypass, Lyari
Expressway, Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Road (N-17), Mansehra
Naran-Jalkhad Road, Dera Allahyar-Nutal Sibi Section (N-65),
Ratodero / Shahdadkot-Khuzdar Road, Qilla
Saifullah-Loralai-Bewata Section (N- 70) & KKH (N-35) Bridge
on River Jhelum at Azad Pattan.
Work on Lowari Tunnel project will be initiated besides
completion of remaining sections of Gwadar Ratodero Road
(Khuzdar-Khori, Ratodero-Quba Saeed Khan & Gwadar- Turbat) and
remaining portion of Indus Highway (N-55) (Sehwan-Dadu,
Dadu-Larkana, Rajanpur D.G.Khan & Malana Junction-Sarai
Gambila Sections).
Work will be initiated on realignment of Jacobabad – Dera
Allah Yar section of National Highway N-65, improvement of
N-65 from Jacobabad Bypass to Shikarpur, Quetta-Kalat-Chaman
road, Quetta Western bypass, two interchanges on motorway M-2
at Khanqah Doghran & Sial Mor and the National Highway
improvement programme co-financed by World Bank.
An allocation of Rs.125.00 million has been made for 25 new
un-approved projects for smooth and safe flow of vehicular
traffic on national highways.
An allocation of Rs.9280.60 million has been made for
continuation of work on Track Rehabilitation of Pakistan
Railways Network, procurement of 69 Diesel Electric locos,
procurement and manufacture of 175 Passenger Coaches,
procurement of 1300 Bogey High Capacity Wagons and
rehabilitation of 450 passenger coaches
and other on-going projects.
Work on installation of air-brakes to 574 bogey wagons and
recommissioning of 55 stabled DE locos will be undertaken.
An allocation of Rs.6227.00 million has been made to expedite
work on the Gwadar Deep Sea Port Project in Balochistan. Of
this Rs.5215 million are for the Sea Port, expected to be
completed during the 2004-05 while an additional amount of
Rs.1000.00 million has been allocated for deepening of the
channel and installation of gantry cranes at Gwadar Port to
enable it to handle bigger ships for transshipment. Remaining
work on ice cold storage and desalination plant on
the Gwadar Fish Harbour-cum mini port will be completed to
make it fully functional.
An allocation of Rs.18 million has been made for NTRC for
research programme and Pakistan Transport Plan Study in
collaboration with JICA.
An allocation of Rs.891.35 million has been made to the
Special Communication Organization (SCO) for GSM project for
AJ&K and the Northern Areas, International Gateway Exchange &
Earth Station for AJ&K and the Northern. Areas, Rural Digital
Communication Uplift Project for AJ&K (Phase-II), provision of
Optic Fibre Cable in Northern Areas (Mansehra-Gilgit),
provision of 15,000 Local Telephone Outside Plant (OSP) in
major Cities and Town of Northern Areas, Laying of Optical
Fibre Cable (OFC) along with Transmission System between
Gilgit and Skardu and Expansion 7
Improvement of Telecommunication Facilities in Northern Areas
(Phase-II).
An allocation of Rs. 99.00 million has been made for
upgradation of National Frequency Management and Monitoring
System project and will be completed during 2005-06.
An allocation of Rs.325.00 million has been made to National
Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) for Establishment of
Optical Fibre based Transmission Link for establishing Coastal
Communication Link, Hosting of GoP Portal and Government
websites and De-Regulation Facilitation Unit Project of
Ministry of Information Technology.
An allocation of Rs.300.00 million has been made for
Up-gradation and Expansion of Existing NLC Communication
Network.
An allocation of Rs 40.OO million has been made to complete
the remaining work on the World Bank financed project - Trade
and Transport Facilitation Project for establishment of
multi-modal transport system and redrafting of laws for
streamlining procedures for ports and custom clearance and
freight forwarding.
The SUPARCO received an allocation of Rs.382.00 million for
payment of the next installments of the lease fee and
operational cost of PAKSAT-I project to M/s Hughes Global
System and to undertake tow feasibility studies for new
projects namely PAKSAT-IR Feasibility and System Definition
Study (FSDS) and Earth Observation Satellite System (EOSS)
Feasibility and System definition Study (FSDS).
The Pakistan Meteorological Department will be allocated
Rs.19.224 million to complete Special Computerized weather
analysis centre, hostel and accommodation at the National
Agrometeorological Centre.
Rs.350 million have been allocated for procurement of
container scanner equipment for installation at Airports.
Rs.8.011 bln earmarked for physical planning, housing
sector
ISLAMABAD: The government has earmarked Rs.8.011 billion for
physical planning and housing sector in PSDP 2004-05, showing
a 36 per cent increase than the last year.
According to Annual Development Plan (ADP), Rs. 2.918 billion
has been allocated for water supply and sewerage while for
urban roads and development Rs. 1.56 billion has been
earmarked.
Similarly, the government has allocated Rs. 1.689 billion for
offices and buildings, Rs. 501 million for government servants
housing schemes and Rs.1.343 billion for various other
schemes.
The sectoral size of Public Sector Development Programme
(PSDP) in 2003-04 was Rs. 9.911 billion out of which Rs. 6.2
billion or 62 per cent was for Federal projects and Rs. 3.711
billion or 38% for the provincial projects.
The major sectoral issues include severe housing shortage, low
water supply and sanitation coverage, and haphazard growth of
cities and towns.
The government will continue to facilitate private sector for
the construction of houses and flats by providing trunk
infrastructure and ensuring adequate credit.
The programmes including water supply and sanitation services,
government offices and buildings, government servants housing,
development of Federal Capital Islamabad and regularization
and improvement of Katchi Abadis and slums are being funded
through PSDP 2004-05.
Special areas get Rs. 11.245 billion in PSDP 2004-05
ISLAMABAD: Special areas including KANA and SAFRON Division
have been allocated an amount of Rs. 11.245 billion, with Rs.
906.88 million of foreign aid component, in the Public Sector
Development Programme (PSDP) 2004-05, to bring these areas at
par with rest of the country.
The PSDP allocations for special areas included Rs. 4463
million for Azad Kashmir, Rs. 2770.9 million for Northern
Areas, Rs. 4000.194 million for FATA (including Special
Programme and two Dams in Waziristan) and Rs. 11.178 million
for improvement of Management Plan of Khunjrab National Park,
Gilgit.
This allocation is about 20 percent over and above than the
corresponding year's allocation of Rs 9355.54 million.
However, the estimated utilization of Rs 10.586 billion upto
June 2004 was higher than the allocations due to provision of
additional allocations of Rs 1091 million for FATA and Rs 140
million for AJK.
Industries division gets Rs 392.43 million in PSDP 2004-05
ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated an amount of Rs
392.432 million including Rs 71.092 million of foreign aid
component in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP)
2004-05 for the new and on-going projects under the Industries
and Production Division.
The PSDP allocations for the new projects included Rs 180
million for Upgradation of Plastic Technology Center, Karachi;
Rs 115 million for Modernization and Upgradation of Pakistan
Industrial Technical Assistance Center (PITAC), Lahore and Rs
5 million for Upgradation of Automotive Testing and Training
Center Limited, Karachi.
Under the ongoing projects the PSDP allocations included Rs
92.432 million for Balancing and Modernization of Workshop
Facilities at PITAC, Lahore.
All these projects are to be completed at an estimated cost of
Rs 1532.1 million including Rs 1432.7 of foreign aid, with Rs
183.3 million utilized upto June 2004 in expenditures and Rs
1348.8 million carried as throwforward.
CBR set Rs.580 billion revenue target for year 2004-05
ISLAMABAD: Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has set Rs.580
billion revenue target for year 2004-05 while it has achieved
Rs.510 billion revenue target of year 2004-05.
CBR has set Rs.174.362 billion 2004-05 target for tax on
income while previous year it has collected Rs.154.638 billion
tax on income. Rs.181.900 billion target for year 2004-05 for
the direct taxes.
CBR set Rs.103.200 billion for the custom and Rs.249.200
billion for the sales tax while federal excise duty target is
Rs.398.100 billion for the next fiscal year.
Tax revenue other than CBR target for year 2004-05 is Rs.74806
million which includes contribution under companies profits
(Rs.4000 million), foreign travel tax (Rs.4216 million),
petroleum development levy (Rs.47506 million), surcharge on
natural gas (Rs.15023 million), arrears surcharge (Rs.2777
million) and Airport tax (Rs 1284 million).
Non tax revenue collected during year 2003-04 was 796.323
billion while Rs.760.983 billion target was set year 2004-05.
The gross receipt of railway is set for Rs.23.679 billion
while working expenses target is Rs.23.679 billion. Pakistan
post office achieved 282 million profits while the target set
for for year 2004-05 Rs.260 million.
The government collected Rs.67283 million interest from the
provinces while Rs.54047 million is the interest target for
year 2004-05.
From general administration Rs.1651 million revenu was
collected during 2003-04 while Rs.1952 million set for year
2004-05. Surplus profit of the state bank of Pakistan is set
for Rs.1000 million for year 2004-05 while previous year no
profit
tarbget was set.
Revenue collected through Defence Services during year 2003-04
was Rs.42936 million while target is set for the next year is
Rs.11616 million.
Recoveries of loans and advances during year 2003-04 was
Rs.31724 million while the target is set for the recoveries is
Rs.28486 million.
The revenue collected through prize bonds, federal development
bonds (Bank), federal investment bonds (non bank), government
bonds, Pakistan investment bonds (bank), Pakistan investment
bonds (non-bank) was Rs.194292 million while the target was
set for the year 2004-05 is 213.853 billion.
Through floating debt including market treasury bills,
treasury bills through auction, other bills, ways and means
advances, cash credit accumulation was collected during year
2003-04 was Rs.940.873 billion.
Agri-Package will stimulate the
agriculture sector: Liaquat Jatoi
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for
Industries and Production, Liaquat Ali Jatoi has hailed the
agriculture package, announced by President Pervez Musharraf
and stated the comprehensive and beneficial package would go a
long way in rejuvenating the agriculture sector of Pakistan.
In a statement on the package on Saturday, he said that the
package will not only provide relief to the growers but will
also boost the agriculture production. Jatoi said the
President General Pervez Musharraf has fulfilled the demands
of the farmers and gave an attractive incentive package in
order to enhance the production of all the crops particularly
the exportable.
Apart from other incentives, only the reduction in the
interest rate of Zarai loan will benefit a fairly large number
of agriculturists. It will give confidence to many farmers who
had been so far reluctant to secure loans for tractors and
tubewells installed. The incentive on the import of tractors,
would hopefully lead to more land being brought under
cultivation and to a boost in the production. He said that
increase in the agri credit to 100 billion, reduction in the
prices of DAP, lining of water courses, relief to small loan
defaulters, manufacturing of tractors and other measures to
reduce the cost of number of other inputs would definitely
benefit the growers and also increase in the production of
agriculture products.
He said that the farming community should take advantage from
the incentive package and also adopt advanced techniques to
capture the export markets of the world. He said that the
country should grow more to become self sufficient in the
staple foods and to earn more by exporting it.
Rs 963 allocated for Defence Division under 2004-05 PSD
ISLAMABAD: Under the Public Sector Development Programme
2004-05 Rs 963 million have been allocated for the 12 on-going
and 4 new projects of the Defence Division.
The PSDP allocations include Rs 1.99 million for award of
merit scholarship to students of FGEIs in Cantt and Garrison
in the on-going schemes sector.
The other ongoing projects include, Islamabad Institute of
Space Technology Phase-II Rs 29 million, National Centre for
Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Karachi Rs
55.70 million, Establishment of FG Degree College for Boys at
multan Rs 19.66 million, and Provision of Physical Facilities
in FG Girls Degree College Kharian Cantt. Rs 10.06 million.
Besides, Expansion of 5 FG Primary School at Peshawar,
Rawalpindi, PMA Kakool, Karachi and Quetta Rs 14.91 million,
Establishment of Special Computerized Weather Analysis Centre,
Hotel and Residencies at National Agro Met Centre Islamabad rs
19.22 million, PAKSAT-I (Phase-I) Rs 312.50 million, PAKSAT-IR
Feasibility and System Definition Study Rs 4.50 million,
Establishment of R & D Division at Met Headquarters Islamabad
Rs 19.95 million, Huma Resource Development for NSDP (Phase-I)
Rs 80.20 million and Establishment of a National Centre for
Drought/Environment Monitoring and Early Warning at Islamabad
rs 60 million.
In the new projects sector for Earth Observation Satellite
System (Feasibility and System Definition Study) Rs 65
million, Establishment of FG Liaqat Ali Degree College for
Boys, Rawalpindi Rs 10 million, Centre for Excellence for
Advanced Engineering Research , Islamabad Rs 175 million and
Training in Advanced Engineering and Technologies Rs 85
million.
Rs 925 mln allocated for the Women Development projects
ISLAMABAD: An amount of Rs 925 million have been allocated for
the Women Development Programme in Public Sector Development
Programme (PSDP) 2004-05.
According to PSDP issued by the government, for the normal
women development programme, an amount of Rs 140 million have
been allocated, where as about Rs 300 million for Tawana
Pakistan Project, Rs 385 million and Rs 100 million for Gender
Reform Action Plan and National funds for Advancement of Rural
Women respectively.
For Tawana Pakistan Programme, an amount of Rs 200 million has
been recommended in the PSDP which has been enhanced to Rs 400
million by the APCC to achieve its objectives and also
complete the programme in time. During this year, it is
planned to cover all the 530,000 students in 29 districts of
the country. Feeding and administration of micronutrients and
albendazole would be carried out in 5300 girls primary school.
For the social welfare sector programme, major emphasis during
the next financial year will continue to be on the completion
of ongoing projects. Some important initiatives in the PSDP
2004-05 include the development of a park for disabled in
Islamabad, National Training Centre for Special Persons at
Islamabad, National Library and Resource Centre in Islamabad
and construction of Special Education Centre at Gilgit, Okara,
Kohat and Hyderabad. All these projects have been funded
promptly and it is expected that these schemes will be
completed by June 2005.
An allocation of Rs 335.512 million has been allocated for the
promotion of special education and social welfare sector.
Higher education sector gets 100 % increase in PSDP 2004-05
The government has doubled the allocation for higher education
sector in PSDP 2004-05, earmarking Rs. 9.104 billion against
Rs. 4.477 billion last year.
The allocation includes Rs. 5.221 billion for ongoing and Rs.
3.883 billion for new projects.
According to Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2004-05, the main
emphasis would be laid on human resource development and
faculty development by initiating masters, M.Phil, PhD and
post- doctoral programmes at indigenous and international
level.
The scholarship programs are being developed for students to
attain Ph.D degrees both within, as well as outside the
country.
An innovative programme is the hiring of expatriate Pakistanis
serving as faculty members and researchers at premier teaching
and research institutions of the world.
The ongoing scholarship schemes would be continued and new
scholarship schemes will also be initiated to train student in
key areas.
The other areas of focus regarding infrastructure include
physical infrastructure, electronic access highway, digital
library programme, curriculum and distance education
mechanism.
The universities will be encouraged to send their students on
internship to industry and public/private sector organization
to gain practical experience.
The universities will also be encouraged for entrepreneurship,
which includes support for the teaching of entrepreneurship
related skills at universities, setup of subsidized research
and development facilities and support for the setup of a
venture capital fund dedicated to promoting relevant projects
showing great promise.
The universities will also be assisted in identifying areas
requiring reform, identifying best practices, and suggesting
mechanisms for improvement.
The central resource facility would be provided to all
university faculties to assist them with the development of
research projects, negotiate research contracts and enhance
the ability of the faculty to attract research and development
grants.
An amount of Rs 4.477 billion was allocated to higher
education during 2003-04.
In the mid-year review of PSDP 2003-04, this allocation was
further increased by Rs 490.88 million making higher education
allocation to about Rs. 5 billion.
Rs.202 biln earmarked for poverty reduction, good governance,
creating jobs
ISLAMABAD: Government has earmarked Rs. 202 billion for
development projects in the new budget aiming at reducing
poverty, ensuring good governance, generating employment and
raising the quality of social services.
Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) which includes
Federal Rs. 148 billion and Rs. 54 billion for the provinces
also carries a foreign aid component of Rs 35 billion.
The PSDP 2004-05 has been formulated within the framework of
the basic policy agenda of the government, which includes
reducing poverty, ensuring good governance, generating
employment and raising the quality of social services.
Towards this end, the programme aims at laying a firm basis
for enhanced future growth through investments in
infrastructure and human resources.
To avoid a thin distribution of the resources, and consequent
time and cost overruns, priority in the allocation of
resources has been given to those projects scheduled for early
completion Commitments for major projects.
These projects includes Chashma nuclear power plant, raising
of Mangla dam, lining of water courses, important
communication projects including Gwadar Port and Gwadar area
development, have been catered to in addition to the important
social sectors.
Further, the government would consider guarantees in
appropriate case for corporations such as WAPDA and the NHA to
arrange additional resources outside the budgeted programme to
complete projects on schedule.
The federally funded provincial projects have also been funded
for completion in the light of priorities assigned to them.
To accelerate agriculture growth and to meet its water
requirements, not only has the allocation for the water sector
been substantially increased, major investment is programmed
for the improvement of water courses to conserve scarce water
and put it to productive use.
Likewise, adequate allocations have been provided to road and
power sector projects to meet the transport and energy
requirements of trade & industry.
Social sectors such as education, higher education, health and
population welfare have been given enhanced funding to
strengthen the economy's knowledge base and to produce
qualified manpower required for higher growth in subsequent
years.
The IT and Science and Technology sectors have also received
increased allocations to give a spur to research and
development and to employ the uneducated unemployed.
The size of the federal PSDP 2004-05 has grown by 31% over the
previous year which in most part is devoted to physical and
social infrastructure to support higher growth and retain the
focus on poverty reduction.
Pakistan may CPI inflation up 0.78 pct mth/mth
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's consumer price index (CPI) was up 7.13
percent in May over the same month last year on the back of
higher food and international fuel oil prices.
The Federal Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday CPI was up
0.78 percent over last month and rose 4.22 percent during the
11 months from July to May, compared with 3.21 percent
increase from July to May 2002/03.
Pakistan's financial year runs from July to June. The sharpest
price increases in May were for food and beverages, up 10.20
percent over the same month last year, while transport was up
8.06 percent.
Using 2000/01 as the base, the index stood at 114.78 in May
against 113.89 in April.
May April
Consumer price index 114.78 113.89
Month-on-month change (pct) 0.78 0.96
Year-on-year change (pct) 7.13 5.99
Federal Budget 2004-05 presented in the national assembly
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister, Shaukat Aziz has presented the
new financial year federal budget 2004-05 in the national
assembly and the budget speech of the finance minister is in
progress.
According to the finance department, total outlay of the
budget is over 9 trillion rupees out of which Rs.202 billion
for development expenditures and Rs.700 billion for
non-development expenditures have been allocated.
The national assembly after completing its discussions on new
financial year budget 2004-05 is expected to approve it on
June 28.
For seven days fixed for discussions on the budget, national
assembly in its morning and evening sessions would continue to
meet and discuss the budget threadbare. Besides, discussions
on the budget would also be held during private members day.
Federal Budget to be presented in cabinet today
ISLAMABAD: The federal budget will be presented in the
national assembly this evening at 5.30 P.M
Federal Minister, Shaukat Aziz presented the budget this
morning in the cabinet, which was under discussion till last
report came in. Immediately after approval of the cabinet, the
budget will be laid before the national assembly.
According to finance department, the total outlay of the
budget would be Rs.902 billion out of which Rs.202 billion for
development expenditures and Rs.700 billion for
non-development expenditures have been allocated.
Non-development Rs.700 billion expenditures include civil
administration expense, payment of federal loans, assistance
programme for different provinces and subsidies for different
organizations.
Cultivators based outfits criticize relief package
ISLAMABAD: Organizations representing cultivators have termed
the relief package of Rs.66 billion as announced by the
president for agriculture insufficient and demanded further
enhancement in the package.
In Lahore, a meeting of Kisan Board Pakistan, Water Council,
Chamber of Agriculture, Punjab, Agriculture Board, FAP and
other representative organizations was held to review the
relief package of Rs.66 billion, which was announced by
President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad Kisan Convention. The
meeting severely criticized the relief package.
Kisan Board’s president, Ishaque Khakwani calling the package
a mere desk work told that the country needs Rs210 billion for
agriculture to resolve the problems of cultivators.
Representative of Agriculture Board, Chaudhry Mohammad Amin
Chatta demanded reduction in the prices of diesel and power to
take some burden off the cultivators.
Hamid Malhi of Water Council was of the view that instead of
spending Rs.66 billion on cementing the canals and ravines,
construction of a big dam alone could have solved the problem
of water in the country.
Faruque Bajwah of FAP appreciating reduction of interest rate
from 14 percent to 9 percent urged upon the need for bringing
agriculture nearer to industry where the prevalent interest
rate ranges 4-5 percent.
Ibrahim Mughal, General Secretary of Kisan Board told that the
real cultivators based organizations were not at all invited
in Kisan Convention and this explains the reason for whatever
decisions taken over there being incorrect.
Loans obtained for budget financing
ISLAMABAD: The government has obtained loans worth Rs.54
billion during the past ten months for financing budget as
against the target of Rs.15 billion fixed for the past
financial year, while the ministry of finance fears that
further monetary expansion might result in higher inflation.
In the report, it is pointed out that the monetary expansion
during current financial year would be around 15 percent
reflecting a breach of target for the second consecutive
years, which would result in pushing inflation upwards.
The report further said that the government for making before
schedule payment of $1.17 billion to Asian Development Bank
resorted to borrowings from banks.
According to the report, investments in national savings also
declined in the wake of heavy borrowings from banks.
Net foreign assets in the banking system this year stood at
Rs.50.40 billion only as against Rs.257 billion in last year..
Courtesy : The News International
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Pakissan.com;
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