These day in social media the government of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being discussing that which one has more developmental projects. The chief ministers of both provinces are also in news about their performance. If have a look at the revenue of Punjab is more large then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the official budget statement State’s own revenue: Punjab’s total own tax revenue is estimated to be Rs 51,835 billion in 2023-24, an increase of 17% over the revised estimate of 2022-23. Own tax revenue as a percentage of GSDP is estimated at 7.4% in 2023-24. Another hand the revenue of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa estimated in the 2024–25 fiscal year is Rs 1,754 billion. This is part of a proposed budget of Rs 1,754 billion in total for the province, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,654 billion.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has a revenue collection target of Rs 47 billion for the 2024–25 fiscal year, form the above comparison we know that Punjab economy is better than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because it has big revenue and development expenditure than kpk.
The Punjab government’s Annual Development Program (ADP) for 2024-25 is Rs842 billion, which is a 28% increase from the previous year. The ADP’s main goal is to promote equitable economic growth while investing in human capital and other priority sectors, while two weeks ago the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa annual has been decided to release annual development funds for the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Finance Department has approved the release of Rs 2,000 million from the ADP. The report said that development funds will be released for various sectors in the merged districts, it has been decided to release Rs 15 million for the agriculture sector and Rs 1 million for Auqaf Hajj. Rs 5 million will be released for the Board of Revenue, Rs 500 million for drinking water and sanitation and Rs 135 million for elementary and secondary education while Rs 6 million will be released for energy. According to the report, Rs 5 million will be released for Establishment and Administration, Rs 2.2 million for Excise and Forests, Rs 300 million for the health sector of the merged districts, Rs 25 million for higher education and Rs 240 million for home. Rs 18 million for industries, Rs 144 million for water and Rs 300 million for roads have been released. The report further stated that Rs 3 million will be released for Minerals and Mines, Rs 30 million for Local Government, Rs 23 million for the Livestock sector and Rs 5 million for Law and Justice under the development funds of merged districts.
It should be remember that both governments have different worth revenues and annual development programs but if we examine both side politically, than the government under chief minister Maryam nawaz is looking more sound, than the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Ali amen Gandapur, because the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is directly involved in the political agitations with the federal government over the arrestment of their leader ex-prime minister Imran khan from almost one year right after the formation of the Proventil government that it cannot yet start its annual development program practically that is why its look like that it’s not working but the Maryam nawaz led Punjab government is enjoying all facilities provided by the federal government that is helping the first ever lady CM, to fulfill its promises with the masses. So it’s critical for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa establishment to think about ,how to utilized it annual development program in the province to cover its almost one year delay to fulfill the promises with the masses. If the provincial establishment could more delay these programs then it will create more difficulties of the government.
