PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has not yet released the first tranche of the Annual Development Program (ADP) 2020-21 three weeks after the end of FY20 due to delay in release of funds by the federal government.
According to sources in the KP Finance Department, the policy for the release of funds is usually formulated at the start of every new financial year, however, no policy for FY21 has been formulated as of yet.
Sources further said that usually after the presentation of the budget the federal government provides funds for the ongoing development projects however this time around even after three weeks of the budget presentation, the KP government has been unable to release development funds. They added that the delay in the release of funds may increase the cost of the projects.
According to sources, 93 per cent of the KP government’s budget depends on federal funds, which have not been released till now due to the economic losses caused by the global pandemic that has caused a shortage of finances with the center.
The KP government currently has some leftover funds from the previous fiscal year, which it plans to release later this month in order to pay salaries and pensions of its employees.
The government has already released more than Rs13.89 billion to the districts for the payment of staff salaries ahead of Eid ul Azha.
According to sources, KP will release funds for its administrative departments once it receives funds from the federal government.
KP Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that the delay in formulation of the fund release policy has been caused due to the delay in release of funds by the federal government adding that the policy will be formulated as soon as the federal government releases funds.
