Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the federal government was delaying fiscal releases for federal projects in Sindh and thus the development process was severely affected in the province.
Shah has not claimed it for the first time; he has repeatedly blamed Islamabad for Sindh’s sluggish development progress but it’s a half-truth. The federal government, some people in the federal capital say has failed to meet revenue targets for the current fiscal year and thus it is likely that the shortfall may touch Rs.500 billion. It means the provinces would share the shortfall minimizing releases to the provinces. Yet another official who talked to Engineering Review said since the federal government had to show something good to the International Monetary Funds (IMF), the efforts for revenue collection would see acceleration. But still, it is more likely to be falling short of the target.
If it is so, then Sindh’s development releases will surely suffer. Of the Rs.500 billion shortfall, Sindh may get around Rs.50 billion less than its due share. It would affect its development effort in the province. But it will specifically hit federal projects in the province.
This forced Chief Minister Shah to raise the issue with Chairman Sadiq Umrani, the Chairman Senate whom he met in April in Karachi. Shah told him that Sindh had paid its 50 percent share to the National Highway Authority yet the work on Jamshoro-Sehwan dual way project was slow. So is the progress of Nai Gaj Dam Project in Dadu district. The cost of the project had increased to Rs.60 billion against the original cost of Rs.48 billion. But all these projects are not moving slowly because of the federal government, claims an official. ‘K4, RBOD and Greenline are also hit by the bad governance of the provincial government.’
These reasons have also severely affected development schemes of the Annual Development Program (ADP)—the principal development program of the province.
Senior planning chiefs in Sindh say there are three reasons which have affected the development pendulum of the province. They include mismanagement, lack of capacity and transfer postings of the officers. These reasons have resulted in no completion of ADPs for over a decade. “Sindh has now a tradition of spending not more than 60 percent of its total development outlay”, an official says. Thus, 40 percent allocations of the ADP stand lapsed. Former planners attribute this performance with the lack of capacity of the provincial government. Also, it is because Sindh plays with the digits at the time of budget proposals just to show its fake progress.
An added factor which has crept in the province and thus affected the development is the campaign of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Numerous projects have come to a grinding halt for investigations in the alleged corruption. Most of the provincial bureaucracy avoid to become part of the decision making due to the fear created by NAB operations in Sindh, claims a former secretary. Sindh Chief Minister who is also facing allegations attempted to restore the confidence of his officers in a grand gathering at CM House Karachi. But inaction on the ground suggests he did not succeed to attain his objective.
In such a situation, some officers in Sindh’s planning and development section see a better move for having a new chief planner Naheed Durrani. Ms. Durrani is the daughter of former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and believed to be an able officer who has performed in various Sindh government departments. What has to be seen is if she will be able to synchronize the priorities of Sindh government and with the PPP’s—two centers which are connected with each other and otherwise too simultaneously.n By Manzoor Shaikh.
