LAHORE: The Punjab government plans pursuing export-oriented growth and in this context, budget for the next fiscal 2019-20 will kick-start revival of the economy – ruined by the previous government during the past one decade, said Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht while winding-up the budget debate in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

The house also passed the health budget after the rejection of cut-motion.

Mr Bakht said the present government realized and introduced “ease of doing business” and added that the government launching three schemes to promote SMEs. They are: Loan Mark-Up Support Scheme, Credit Guarantee Scheme and Entrepreneur Fund.

The finance minister said the Punjab government would establish industrial estates in all 36 districts, adding that each district’s competitiveness would be considered to select industry for respective estates.

He said the government had plans to develop five cities as intermediate cities to lessen burden on Lahore. He said south Punjab had been given 35 per cent of the development budget and ring-fenced it so that it could not be re-appropriated. He regretted that the previous government stole south Punjab’s allocated Rs265 billion in the past seven years.

He said the government increased funding for agriculture by 100 per cent to enhance agriculture productivity. He said the government cut import bills by producing edible oil in the country, while reducing the wheat crop so that wheat should not go surplus and eventually wasted.

Explaining cutting of expenditure by the chief minister under austerity measures, the minister said the government would focus more on human development and invest heavily in the health, education and industry sectors.

Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said the PML-N government failed to meet Millennium Development Goals in terms of reducing mother and infant mortality rates by half by 2015 and cut a sorry figure internationally. She said the previous government eventually signed Sustainable Development Goals.

In order to achieve these targets, Dr Rashid said, the present government would establish the University of Child and Paediatric Health.

Dr Rashid said the previous government had almost dismantled 25 district and 15 tehsil hospitals for revamping and the present government allocated Rs3 billion to complete some of the hospitals. She also regretted that the PML-N government procured medical equipment worth Rs4 billion and stored in a rented warehouse.

She said the present government recruited 15,000 doctors and nurses and planned recruitment of 10,000 more medics.

Referring to the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center project, she said the previous government did not develop PC-1 of the project and put Rs15 billion to its credit without any legal process. Saying that the previous government’s doctors’ team could not conduct a single liver transplant, she added the present government arranged doctors from the Al-Shifa Hospital and so far conducted three liver transplants.

Identifying another anomaly, Dr Rashid said the previous government bought PetScan worth Rs200 million but did not procured Cyclotron machine, without which the PetScan could not be operated. She said the Cyclotron would now cost some Rs450 million. “The PTI government has allocated Rs2 billion for the PKLI,” she said.

The health minister said the PML-N government allocated Rs780 million for the purchase of ventilators but re-appropriated to spend somewhere else. “Now, the present government had allocated the funds from its budget to procure the ventilators,” she said.

Dr Rashid said that she was still awfully busy to repair the damages being done by the previous government besides running some 133 schemes that were having “ongoing status” since 2009.

The debate on cut motions on different departments will continue on today.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2019