ISLAMABAD
The Ministry of Planning and Development is working on a five-year (2018-2023) which will execute the development projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and PSDPs within the stipulated time without compromising on planning, quality of work and transparency.
This was said by Planning, Development and Reforms Secretary Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui while talking to a group of economic reporters at the ministry on Wednesday. Talking about the initiatives taken after assuming charge of the ministry, he said the first thing did was to increase the facilitation role of the ministry in planning and execution of projects. “Much focus is being given to discourage the revision of projects’ cost, which has been an issue unresolved for years. The execution of projects within the given time frame is another task for the ministry,” he said adding that overrun or increasing the cost of the project at revision stage by up to 60 per cent is highly irrational and unjustified. “Project revision is an actually undesirable policy which needed to be discouraged,” he said.
The secretary claimed that consultancy firms were not reporting to the concerned authorities about any issue related to concerned projects timely causing a delay in their execution. This issue would be addressed with increasing reporting system and facilitation centres at the ministry and provincial level.
Siddiqui said that as part of the five-year plan, the ministry will focus on increasing exports and agriculture products besides prioritising education, health, economic well-being, water, peace and security and affordable energy etc.
Talking about CPEC projects, he said all possible steps are being taken to ensure smooth and fast implementation on the approved projects by regular consultation and coordination with the Chinese government. Four new projects have been included in the CPEC while more projects are in consideration to be completed through Chinese funding.
He informed that Pakistan and China have agreed to complete all the procedural arrangements including commercial contract and financial close of Main Line (ML-1) of Pakistan Railways at the earliest so that work on the project could be started during the current year. In reply to a query, he said, the government would try to avoid affecting projects of PSDP in case of inclusion of new mega-projects like ML-1.
According to the secretary, work on the documentation process of much-delayed Karachi Circular Railways project was also underway. In the recent meeting, a joint working group on transportation has approved three projects including the KCR, Keti Bunder and special economic zone at Dhabeji. The meeting approved the projects and recommended them to CPEC’s joint coordination committee for implementation under the CPEC framework.
In reply to a query, he said that there was no objection on the part of provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan regarding CPEC projects as all federating units were being given the due share in CPEC.
