THE chief minister of Sindh, while talking about development schemes in the province recently, said there were 4,644 schemes currently in progress, but only 1,812 would be completed this year. One fails to understand why all the schemes could not be completed within the specific time andbudget allocation. The fact is that the pace of budget utilisation of all departments in Sindh is dismal. Only 40 per cent of budgeted amount has been used till date.
Every year, the Sindh government fails to complete schemes within the specific time period, the costs escalate, and the same schemes are rolled over to the next financial year. There is a huge gap between budgeted schemes and work on the ground.
Sustainability of schemes is also at risk because the government is lacking community participation. It is unfortunate that the government is prioritising schemes that are not part of the annual development plan (ADP) through chief minister`s orders, bypassing the already budgeted ADP schemes. If this is the way of releasing budget for non-ADP schemes, what is the need for regular ADPs? What is the need for regular development budget? The Sindh government needs to consistently focus on the element of community participation in order to make progress.
The provincial chief minister should call for proposals from the people, and involve civil society in the overall process.
