ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is introducing Rs581 billion South Punjab development package to improve the dilapidated infrastructure, power supply system, strengthen universities and give access to information technology ahead of no-trust move.
More or less 120 projects have been short-listed, including the uplift schemes, which were approved in recent time but could not be enforced due to lack of finance and new projects with public as well as private sector investment.
PM Khan is keen to launch the projects ahead of no-confidence move against him and the Planning Minister Asad Umar has written to the Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar to complete any remaining consultations with the stakeholders.
Although the launching of the package has been expedited, the work on the Rs581 billion initiative had been underway for the past many weeks, much before the opposition parties took a decision to bring a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, Tribune reported today.
The package has been finalised with input from the government of Punjab, the South Punjab Secretariat and it has already been presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan last week during his visit to Lahore, according to the senior officials of the Planning Ministry.
Extensive consultations on these initiatives were carried out, in the last few months, said Asad Umar, the Planning Minister.
Many of the disgruntled members of the ruling party belong to the Southern Punjab and central Punjab districts. The government is also making efforts to bring these disgruntled members back in its fold.
South Punjab is the most neglected part of the Punjab province.
Rs581 billion breakup
Out of Rs581 billion, a major chunk of Rs182 billion will be spent on 44 projects. These schemes have been proposed by the government of Punjab, to be funded by the federal government. Another amount of Rs52 billion is being spent on 21 new schemes that are already approved in the past many months and are now funded out of the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
The federal government has also made 13 ongoing schemes valued Rs134 billion as part of the South Punjab package.
The Ignite and Universal Services Fund that are under the Ministry of Information Technology will finance another 39 schemes in the information technology sector with an investment of Rs51 billion.
About five projects having a value of Rs162 billion will be completed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
However, the government may face difficulties in arranging adequate finances for timely completion of these schemes, particularly after a steep cut on the PSDP.
