PESHAWAR - The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday approved a Rs648 billion tax-free and surplus budget for the fiscal year 2018-19, earmarking Rs180 billion for annual development programme and Rs438 billion for the ongoing development expenditure.

 “The provincial government will not impose new taxes on the poor people, however, it will explore other means to improve revenue generation of the province,” said Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra in his budget speech in the assembly here.

He said that a major chunk of the budget would be spent on health reforms and Sehat Insaf Cards would be extended to newly-merged tribal districts of erstwhile Fata.

The provincial government is planning to provide these cards to the poor segment of the society with the inclusion of those who were not included in the previous survey. This inclusion is part of the PTI’s 100-day plan, the minister sad.

Besides, funds of Rs5 billon are being allocated for youth business employment opportunities which will not only extend youth impact challenge programme but will also create opportunities for youth, widows and disabled segment of the population.

The provincial government earmarked Rs9.60 billion for the missing facilities in schools while 10 percent development budget would be transferred to the ongoing development projects.

The government has targeted completion of 10 major projects this year for which the development budget has been transferred for early completion.

The finance minister while highlighting the composition of the annual budget told that Rs426 billion (66%) revenue would come from federal government, Rs65 billion (10%) would come under the head of net hydel profit, Rs41 billion (6%) would come from provincial taxes, Rs71 billion (11%) will come under head of foreign aid, while Rs45 billion (7%) would come from other sources of revenue.

The federal government so far has not paid previous arrears of Rs23 billion. The federal government paid Rs303 billion instead of Rs226 billion. In ongoing development expenditure of Rs436 billion, Rs316 billion are being paid under head of salaries and pension which is 10 percent higher than 2010 and 2011 which was 40%.  The total non salary budget is Rs88 billion.

This year development budget allocation is Rs180 billion which is Rs30 billion higher than previous budget which was Rs148 billion. This amount is comprised of Rs80 billion for provincial development projects, 29 for district development projects while Rs70 billion would be received in the shape of foreign aid.

There are total 1,376 projects in this year’s development budget which include 1,155 ongoing schemes while 221 are new projects. The government is going to improve the financial management programme and that is why 90 percent funds of this year would be spent on ongoing schemes.

The government allocated a total amount of Rs167.30 billion for education sector which includes Rs146.11 billion for elementary education while Rs18.80 billion would be spent on higher education. Besides, Rs2 billion would be spent on technical education.

In the ongoing financial year 2018-19, government would spend Rs78.65 billion on education which is 13 percent of total budget.

For police, judiciary and prison department, the government allocated Rs62.5 billion and in this connection a comprehensive policy is being chalked out by home department. This policy would help to allocate budget for each police station and strengthen traffic warden system in Abbottabad, Swat and Mardan.

For transport sector, the government has allocated Rs39.6 billion out of which Rs39 billion would be spent on BRT while the remaining amount would spend on other related schemes.

For power and energy sector, the PTI-led government allocated Rs4.10 billion with addition of Rs800 million. Out of the allocated amount, Rs3 billion would be spent on micro-hydel power projects while 8,000 schools and 187 BHUs would be shifted to solar power. Besides, the government would also spend huge amount on exploration of oil and gas.