Karachi, which is the economic life of Pakistan, immediately needs Rs600 for development however neither the federal government nor the provincial governments have such amount of funds to provide, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday.

“Karachi is our city and is the capital of Sindh. The issue is we talked about $3 billion for Karachi a few years back. And I have said this on many occasions that we need it immediately it is around Rs600 billion. Such an amount is neither with the federal government nor with the provincial government,” he said at the post-budget press conference.

Sindh CM Murad presented Rs1.713 trillion of tax-free deficit budget for 2022-23 on Tuesday. He announced that there would be no new taxes in the budget and a rise in the salaries of government employees.

CM Murad added that the provincial government was meeting such a need for funds by seeking assistance from the international lenders and big pocket lenders and working with the public-private partnership. But, the government was taking small initiatives for the city.

“We need massive investment for Karachi. We will try to host a one-day investment conference in Kuwait to pitch [our province] to the Gulf countries,” he said and stressed the need for productive investment. He also spoke about the $1 billion investment from Saudi Arabia in Karachi which was announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to the metropolitan city on May 20.

Salient features of budget

• Tax collection target for Sindh Revenue Board (Rs180b), Excise & Taxation (Rs1.20b) and Board of Revenue (Rs30b)
• Rs332.165 billion for annual development program
• Rs332.165 billion worth of 4,158 schemes
• Rs26.850 billion worth of social protection package
• Ad-hoc relief allowance at the rate of 15% of basic pay Scales
• Disparity allowance at the rate of 33% of basic pay will be paid to civil servants in BPS-1 to 16 and at the rate of 30% for civil servants in BPS-17 and above
• 5% increase in pension
• Education: Rs326.80 billion
• Health: Rs230.30 billion

Austerity measures

To a query on austerity measures, the Sindh CM said that he only has a motorcycle that runs in front of his vehicle and one police car behind him for protection. “And this is for official business. Otherwise, I go everywhere on my own, especially for private work.”

The CM House helicopter fuel is also counted, he said and admitted that he had travelled quite a bit for meeting with the federal government to mend ties and visits to interior cities. He said he would check the expenses with a view to cutting costs.

Allocation of funds for Karachi

Every year allocation of funds for Karachi increases every year and next year there would be a record contribution for the city.

Safe City Project

The provincial government has done direct contracting with the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation for the Safe City Project and set aside funds for it. “We hope the pilot is launched this year,” Murad said.

Delay in projects

The Sindh chief minister blamed the previous governments for the delay in the road project of Jamshoro to Sehwan, adding that former premier Imran Khan did not respond to his several letters on the release of Rs7 billion from the total cost of Rs14 billion.

“I challenged him [Imran Khan] to return our share of the amount and your due and take the road will be completed in one year,” he said, lamenting that the road was still not completed. Many people died in road accidents due to this.

He further said there were also other issues pertaining to the release of funds and capacity in projects.

Pension

The government was considering setting up a contributory pension system to lessen the pension bill.

“I want to repeat our salaries from every grade and pensions are more than other provinces and federal government,” he said, “If we need then we will invest our money or else we will contribute.”

He further said that as many as Rs90 of funds were stuck in the Supreme Court in a case.