Over Rs800bn Balochistan budget to be presented on June 22

QUETTA: Balochistan Finance Mi­­nister Mir Shoaib Ahmed Nosher­wani will present over Rs800 billion budget for the next financial year 2024-25 in the provincial assembly on June 22, officials disclosed on Saturday.

Officials in the finance department said Balochistan would receive Rs667.5bn as its share under the NFC Award from the federal government during the year 2024-25, while the province was given over Rs493.70bn under NFC Award in the current financial year.

According to sources, the province would receive Rs20.55bn on account of oil and gas royalties during the financial year 2024-25.

While presiding over a consultative meeting of the coalition partners and opposition members in connection with budget preparation, Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti discussed government’s priority to finalise the budget with consensus.

Balochistan Governor Jaffar Khan Mandokhail and Provincial Assembly Speaker Abdul Khaliq Achakzai also attended the meeting. It is for the first time in the province that the coalition partners as well as opposition members are being consulted on the budget proposals.

Officials said that the coalition parties and opposition members reposed their confidence in the chief minister, endorsing the budget formulation and reforms for governance. The particip­a­­nts in the meeting also expressed their satisfaction over the budget proposals.

They said that it was decided in principle to maintain the volume of development projects while ensuring timely implementation without delay. “Health and education are our priorities in the upcoming budget, with a proposal to increase the education budget by 300 per cent and the health budget by 100pc,” CM Bugti told participants in the meeting.

He mentioned that to ensure timely implementation of developmental projects, the tendering process would commence in the first month of the upcoming fiscal year, immediately after Eid.

He said responsible officers would be tasked with overseeing the field operations of developmental projects to enh­ance accountability. He said efforts were in progress to make the anti-corruption establishment effective and CM’s Inspection Team active for improved governance.