The provinces and local levels have proposed as high as 4,500 projects with an estimated budget worth Rs 142.43 billion to receive supplementary and special grants for the fiscal year 2023/24.
According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the local governments have forwarded a total of 4,546 projects with the estimated budget of Rs 115.43 billion.
Likewise, the provinces have proposed 211 projects seeking Rs 27 billion to implement those projects in the upcoming fiscal year.
Of the proposed projects from the local and provincial governments, the new projects carry the budget estimation worth Rs 121.71 billion while projects worth Rs 20.65 billion are ongoing projects.
As sought by the local and provincial governments, Rs 50.41 billion has been demanded under the special grant while Rs 71.26 billion for supplementary grant for the new projects.
The Supplementary Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2021 and the Special Grant (Third Amendment) Procedure, 2021 mention about the federal supplementary and special grants under which the federal government allocates budget to the province and local governments each year.
The NPC has entered those proposed projects in its system for project analysis and selection purposes after receiving the proposals from the province and local governments.
A team led by a NPC member shall select the projects and programmes after their thorough assessment based on the parameters given by the procedures.
For the selection of the projects, their feasibility, estimated cost and outcomes should be considered and the projects that generate compulsory liability on the part of the government would also be prioritized.
Sectoral priorities are also considered for the selection of new projects.
The provinces were given the timeline of mid-February to propose the projects and programmes under the federal supplementary and special grants while the local levels were to submit such projects by mid-January.
