PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Local Government Department has utilised only 7% of the development funds allocated to it, in the past two months. In an effort to ensure the effective use of existing funds, the Department of Planning and Development (P&D) has directed the LG Department to prioritise the utilisation of current funds before requesting additional allocations.
According to the P&D, a total of Rs4.39bn was allocated for the “Urban Development” projects over a period of four months, of which Rs 2.24bn has already been disbursed.
So far, the LG Department has expended only 7% of the allocated Rs 4.39 billion funds, totaling Rs15.51 crore. Additionally, the LG Department currently holds Rs2.86 billion in its accounts according to the online system.
The Department has stressed the need of first ensuring the efficient utilisation of the initially allocated funds before submitting any further funding requests.
Due to constitutional constraints in the oversight period, the KP government has only approved a four-month budget, including the development budget.
Despite having an allocated development budget of over Rs15bn, a significant portion remains unused. While it may allude to the province’s fiscal discipline, it has been revealed that the KP government has quite a task at hand, when it comes to infrastructural development.
