PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government failed to raise net hydel profit revenue in accordance with the budgetary estimates it got approved from the provincial assembly for the financial year 2011-12, official sources said on Tuesday.
They told Dawn that the provincial government’s actual hydel profit receipts stood at around Rs4 billion on June 30, 2012.“The government recorded a deficit of more than Rs2 billion after the Water and Power Development Authority defaulted,” said an official of the provincial government.It reflects wrong estimation on the part of the provincial government, according to experts.
Officials said the provincial government reflected the NHP revenue at Rs6 billion in its revised estimates for the last financial year even though its quarters concerned knew well that it would be difficult to raise the full amount before the close of the fiscal year.The revised revenue estimates of Rs6 billion on account of NHP for the 2011-12 financial year that were approved by the provincial assembly in June this year after the provincial placed the information before the legislature along with the new financial year’s budget.
Officials said the Authority would pay the remaining amount in the current financial year as it was paying the last financial year’s remainder in ‘piece meal’ to the province.The delay, according to sources, is bound to cause complications for the provincial government.“In principle, the provincial government should correct the situation by placing the correct information before the provincial assembly,” said a senior official.The provincial government, said an expert, was required to put the official record straight, making adjustments in its revised revenue estimates for the financial year 2012-13.
“As per rules, the provincial government gets approval from the provincial assembly for all of its expenditure against the estimated revenue receipts and hence, if it did not raise Rs6 billion in a financial year then how could it justify the expenditure against the un-materialised inflated revenue receipts?” said the official expert.Nonetheless, if one goes by the sitting provincial government previous year’s record, according to sources, it is not likely to rectify the situation in the next financial year’s budget documents.
This was for the second consecutive year that Wapda had defaulted, said the official, as last year, too, the provincial government had not received Rs 6 billion before June 30, 2011.Against the NHP revenue estimates of Rs 6 billion for the 2010-11 fiscal, the provincial government’s actual receipts had stood at Rs 4.5 billion on June 30, 2011. The remaining Rs 1.5 billion receipts were received by the province in the 2011-12 financial year, said an official.
“As per rules, the government should have reflected the Rs 1.5 billion receipts as revenue raised in the 2011-12 financial year,” said the official, adding that this information should have been put before the provincial assembly at the time of presenting the current financial year’s budget that was tabled before the legislature on June 8, 2012.This information, said the sources, was not shared with the provincial assembly at the time of presenting the current financial year’s budget.
Despite the fact that the government did not receive the full amount of Rs 6 billion in the financial year 2010-11, it chose to reflect the NHP receipts at the same level in its revised estimates for the 2011-12 financial year, said the official.“They opted for it, maybe, they were feeling confident to get the full amount this time (before June 30, 2012),” said the official.
Sources said the provincial government made hectic efforts in June this year in its attempts to make Wapda pay Rs6 billion in full before June 30, 2012.However, its could not bring the desired results even though senior Awami National Party leaders took up the matter more than once with President Zardari.Senior Awami National Party leader Senator Haji Adeel, who is representing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the National Finance Commission, brought the matter to the President’s notice.“Mr Zardari had promised to make Wapda fulfill its obligation towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but it did not turn out to be the case,” said an official privy to the matter.
