Punjab presents 'mini-budget' worth Rs4,480bn

Punjab finance minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman on Monday presented the provincial budget for fiscal year 2023-24 worth Rs4480 Billion was tabled during the Punjab Assembly session in Lahore.

While presenting three three-month budget for the year 2023-24 in Punjab Assembly, he said that in last 21 days, Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz had started 28 big projects.

He said this three-month budget was aimed at progress and prosperity of people of the province.

He said that ‘Ramazan Nigheban package’ was being implemented successfully with a cost of Rs 30 billion.

He said the Punjab government had made price control system fully active and prices and supply of essential items were also being monitored.

The Punjab Finance Minister said that zero tolerance policy had been adopted to overcome hoarding, adulteration and illegal profiteering.

Demand and supply of agricultural and essential items were also being improved, Mujtaba Shuja, added.

He said that funds had been allocated for 28 big projects, adding that these projects included setting up of Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore at a cost of Rs 10 billion, IT Infrastructure Investment Programme, Punjab IT Graduates Internship Programme, Global IT Certification Programme, Punjab Chief Minister Helpline, Provincial Database Authority, Free Wi-Fi in Punjab, Punjab Dastak Programme, Overhauling of Rural Health Centres and Basic Health Centres, Health Sector Development Programme, Ambulance Service on Motorways, Air Ambulance, Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment and Research Hospital in Lahore, Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cardiology Hospital in Sargodha, Punjab Education Programme, Free Laptops for Students, CM Internship Programme, CM ‘Hunarmandi Programme’, Punjab Agriculture Transformation Programme, Model Agriculture Malls, Aquaculture Shrimp Farming Programme, Construction and Maintenance of 82 roads, Punjab Road Infrastructure Programme, ‘Apni Chhat Apna Ghar Programme’, Smog Free Punjab, Electric Buses and Electric Bikes and etc.

He said that total volume of three months budget for the year 2023-24 is Rs 4480.7 billion. The total income was estimated at 3331 billion 70 crore rupees. As many as 2706 billion 40 crore rupees would be obtained for Punjab from the distributable income of the federation under the NFC award.

While the provincial revenue had been estimated at 625.30 billion rupees with an increase of 25 percent from last year in which 240 billion rupees were expected to be collected from the Punjab Revenue Authority with a 26 percent increase, 99.20 billion rupees from the Board of Revenue with a 4 percent increase and 45.50 billion rupees from the Excise Department with a 5 percent increase, he added.

He said that the non-tax revenue had been estimated at 231.80 billion rupees with an increase of 42 percent. In the current financial year, 513.73 billion rupees for salaries, 392.10 billion rupees for pensions and 627.70 billion rupees had been allocated for local governments.

The development budget for the financial year 2023-24 was estimated at 655 billion rupees, while the amount allocated for projects / programs / grants supported by foreign aid was 113.2 billion rupees. 36 percent of the development budget consisted of social sector, 39 percent infrastructure, 8 percent production sector and 4 percent services sector, he added.

Similarly, he said, 13 percent of the development budget had been allocated for various programs and public welfare special initiatives. He said social security measures were estimated at 20 billion rupees, the rate of increase in salaries and pensions of provincial employees was 35 percent in the basic pay scale for grades 1 to 16.

Whereas, according to the basic pay scale of grades 17 to 22, the salaries had been increased by 30 percent and the pension had been increased by 17 percent, he added.

He said that a provincial database authority would be established with Rs 50 crore to have accurate data for various sectors.

A total of Rs 473.62 billion had been earmarked for the health sector. The provincial government would start four programs for complete overhauling of rural health centers and primary health centers with 40 billion rupees so that no citizen was deprived of the right to health, he said and added that Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment and Research would be constructed in Lahore with 30 billion rupees for which an initial amount of Rs 50 crore had been kept in the development budget of the last three months of the current financial year.

He said that 45 billion rupees had been set aside for the public-friendly and poor-promoting health insurance program in the current financial year. New day care centers for working women would be established across Punjab with one billion rupees.

The minister said that an amount of 1.40 billion rupees had been allocated in the development budget for the welfare of minorities. He said that a total of 79.12 billion rupees had been allocated for the development of the agriculture sector.

A total amount of 25.75 billion rupees had been allocated in the transport sector for travel facilities, he said and added that a journalist endowment fund of one billion rupees would be established so that media works could be provided with the best medical treatment as well as support for the families of martyred or deceased media works. Along with this, he said, a big program of construction and repair of 82 roads and highways was being started with 320 billion rupees, through which 2659 km long roads would be repaired. He further said that Rs 5 billion would be spent on the project of “Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar” program, Rs. 2 billion will be spent on selected buses and Rs. 1 billion on the project of electric bikes for smog-free Punjab.

Under Suthra Punjab, a program of 2 billion rupees for solid waste management, 5 billion rupees for repairing streets and sewers, and a project of CM Plant for Pakistan would be started with 1 billion rupees. He said that the Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore would be started with 10 billion rupees, the Global IT Certification Program with 1 billion rupees and the Punjab Dastak program with 25 crore rupees. By which people would be able to benefit from 43 government services sitting at home.

Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said the Punjab government had allocated 236.37 billion rupees for important social sectors such as education, health, water supply and sanitation, women’s development, sports and youth affairs, population welfare and social security which was 36 percent of the current financial year’s development budget.

He said that a total of 595.8 billion rupees had been set aside for the education sector in the current financial year. Out of which 537.40 billion rupees had been kept under non-developmental budget which was 26 percent of the total non-development budget of the current financial year.

He said that 57.68 billion rupees had been allocated for the development budget of the education sector, which was 9 percent of the total development budget.

Out of the overall development budget allocated for the education sector, 44.41 billion rupees had been earmarked for school education, 9.36 billion rupees for higher education, 2.99 billion rupees for the literacy and non-formal education department, and 92 crore rupees for special education, he added.