Government approves PKR 371 billion for PSDP projects

News sources said that on Wednesday, February 8, Syed Zafar Ali, secretary of the Ministry of Planning, announced that the government has approved PKR 371 billion for development projects under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2022–2023.

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Mr. Zafar said that the PSDP has a budget of PKR 727 billion, of which PKR 371 billion, or more than 50%, has been approved. Zafar told reporters in a meeting that 311 billion PKR of the approved projects were for local parts and 60 billion PKR was for foreign aid. He also said that 22% of the budget has been used, and that a total of PKR 207 billion has been spent. Of this amount, PKR 147 billion has been spent on local projects, and PKR 60 billion has been spent on foreign aid.

The secretary said that, out of the USD 10 billion in aid pledged by countries at the Geneva conference, USD 3 billion has been approved for 13 early harvest development projects in flood-affected areas, and the funds will be sent soon. He stressed that if a project has to do with a province, it will have to share 50% of its resources, and the same would be true for projects that have to do with the federal government.

It’s important to know that the recent floods in the country destroyed infrastructure in all four provinces. Sindh lost USD 8 billion, Balochistan lost USD 2.5 billion, and the other provinces lost USD 750 million. The government has asked the rest of the world to help with recovery by pledging money for rebuilding as part of their initiatives for climate resilience and justice.