- ‘The previous govt had only kept Rs7bn for Balochistan projects’
ISLAMABAD: Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the government had allocated Rs176 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2019-20) to executive different projects in Balochistan.
Addressing the concerns of Balochistan Awami Party’s leader Khalid Hussain Magsi during the budget debate, he termed the allocations ‘largest’ as compared to other provinces.
The previous government, he said, had only kept Rs7 billion for Balochistan projects. “Construction of a motorway from Islamabad to Quetta under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is among the top priorities of the government,” he said, adding that sufficient allocation had also been made for the construction of Naulong Dam.
The groundbreaking of the Quetta-Zhob Road had been performed recently, while Halka-D I Khan motorway construction was also in progress, the minister informed.
He said the Makran grid was being connected with national distribution system at a cost of Rs17.5 billion, of which Rs6 billion had been allocated for this year.
The minister said sufficient amount had been allocated for the Katchi Canal Project, which the previous governments had abandoned even after spending Rs80 billion.
Under the project, he said, 700,000-acre land would be irrigated, expressing confidence that its first phase would be completed as per the revised schedule.
Bakhtiar said that a number of schemes were in the pipeline to ensure the provision of clean drinking water to the people of Balochistan, adding the government had also addressed the sufferings of the fishermen in Gwadar.
