Negotiations between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the federal development budget have been completed, with both sides reaching an understanding on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday.
Speaking during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning, Ahsan Iqbal said the federal government would allocate a larger share of development funds to the smaller provinces in the budget for the next fiscal year.
He said Balochistan would receive the highest allocation, followed by Sindh, while Punjab would receive the lowest share of federal development funding.
According to the minister, Rs265 billion has been earmarked for development projects in Balochistan, while Sindh will receive Rs195 billion under the PSDP.
He said Rs98 billion has been allocated for development projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Punjab’s share has been set at Rs72 billion.
Ahsan Iqbal said Rs150 billion has been allocated collectively for development projects in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The planning minister also announced that work on the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway project would be launched in Sindh during the current year.
He said the federal government would continue funding the K-4 water supply project in Karachi and allocate resources for it in the upcoming budget.
Ahsan Iqbal said funds had also been earmarked for development initiatives under the Aran Development programme, including highway and canal projects, in the federal budget.
