Development budget halved

ISLAMABAD: Secretary Finance Dr Farooq Masood has informed the Senate Standing committee for Communication that its development budget of Rs240 billion has been reduced to Rs120 billion because of financial crunch. As per details the Standing Committee presided over by chairman Wali Ahmed Badini was briefed by secretary finance Dr Farooq Masood that due to financial crunch the development funds of the ministries have been slashed.

The committee members have protested against the decision and said they were assured by the PM that there would be no reduction in the development fund of Balochistan.
The committee took notice of the protest and summoned the AGPR in the next session to submit its report. Chairman NHA informed the committee that Rs150 million for Lawari tunnel, and Rs200 million Qalat-Chaman project has been issued.
Chairman planning commission has said that the commission will try its best to release the entire allocated budget for Balochistan but the finance ministry is refusing to release the funds, PM has been informed about the situation in this regard. Committee member Raja Zafar ul Haq has said that AGPR charges 2 per cent commission on the release of all the funds which is wrong. On this the committee summoned AGPR authorities in the next meeting. The committee has asked for the project report for construction of Khusha’al Bridge in the next session of CDWP. Zahid Khan informed that the 1992 project of road construction between Hasan Abdal to Mansehra is still pending and no funds have been released for the project, this will scare off Asian Development Bank as they were suppose to do the funding. -Agencies

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Factory output stays sluggish

LSM down 2.07 per cent in 4MFY11

Ghulam Raza Rajani

KARACHI: Pakistan’s industrial output continued to show downward trend and contracted by 2.07 per cent in the first four-month of the current fiscal year mainly due to decline in production of petroleum, chemical and fertiliser sectors, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS).

During the period, two subsectors decline in production as Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) reported 13.86 per cent drop in production, and Ministry of Industries down by 4.55 per cent, while Provincial Bureau of Statistics showed a growth in production by 3.64 per cent. On the other hand, month of October also saw the decline – slightly higher by 2.81 per cent over the same period last year, worrying industrial output of the country.
The FBS data further reveals that petro

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Posted in: billion,Bureau,cent,country,decline,FBS,Federal Bureau of Statistics,fertiliser,financial,fiscal,Ghulam Raza Rajani,that