Sixth NFC Award

THE official quarters appear hopeful about achieving a consensus on a number of contentious issues plaguing the on-going negotiations between the federal government and the provinces over the Sixth National Finance Commission Award. If all goes well the award is expected to be announced by the end of this month but it will come into force from the next financial year. The major point of discord between the federal government and the three smaller provinces is the latter’s objection to population being adopted as the sole criterion for the distribution of funds from the federal divisible pool. The federal government seems to have met this objection with the proposal to raise the subvention to Rs. 20 billion to be distributed among the three smaller provinces on the basis of their backwardness, needs and tax mobilization efforts. The other point of disagreement relates to the sharing of the overall tax income between the centre and the provinces.

There is an indication that to satisfy the provinces on this score, the federal government might increase their share to 40 per cent from the present 37.5 per cent. If one adds to it the subvention of Rs. 20 billion and the Rs. 32 billion being transferred to the provinces from the revenue collected from the 2.5 per cent GST for distribution among the local governments, the total share of the provinces then is projected to go up to 44 per cent. The other two major issues of disagreement concern the NWFP and Balochistan. While the NWFP has been complaining about not getting its full share of Rs. 6 billion from hydroelectricity profits, Balochistan feels the same vis-a-vis the income from Sui gas. Both these issues are likely to be kept on hold because the federal government has so far failed to come up with a satisfactory solution to these problems. Like the 5th Award, the 6th one too is being finalized by an unrepresentative government and, therefore, the chances of most of these contentious issues being resolved with finality does not seem too bright.

Issues regarding the sharing of revenues between the federal government and the provinces and among the provinces themselves had sharpened during the Zia regime but were finally resolved through the 1992 Award by an elected government. Since the Sixth Award is also being handled by a military government, it can hardly be expected it to be sensitive to the socio-economic realities and come up with a formula of sharing and distribution on a fair and equitable basis. Still, one had expected that after the installation of local governments and the urging of the multilateral donors to reduce the size of the federal government, Islamabad would transfer many of the socio-economic tasks to the provinces and then to local governments. This would have enabled the federal government to reduce its share in the overall tax income, which would have automatically enhanced the divisible pool to be distributed according to a formula combining population with the income-generating capacity of a province, its essential needs and the extent of its backwardness as the composite criteria. This in turn would have enabled the provinces to gain a larger measure of financial autonomy as well as the space to share their incomes with their local governments on a similar basis.

Upgrading higher education

THE constitution of the Higher Education Commission through a presidential ordinance the other day, and its overall mandate to oversee institutions of higher learning in the country, are steps in the right direction. The HEC replaces the University Grants Commission, which, over the years, had become merely a ceremonial presence when it came to performing its vital functions. The HEC is good news because for the first time the country will have a governing body at that level comprising qualified and reputable educationists, entrusted with formulating higher education policy and setting targets to meet the required needs in this important sector. A chairperson, whose credentials in the field of education must qualify him/her to hold that post, and who will have the status of a federal minister, will head the 10-member commission. The rest of the members will be other prominent educationists from different disciplines. The HEC will report directly to the prime minister/chief executive.

The ordinance establishing the commission sets the tone for the functions it is mandated to perform. These include formulating higher education policies and procedures governing the running of state and private-sector universities and degree-awarding institutions, setting priorities, instituting ratings for universities based on their performance and allocation of government grants to these. All of this is necessary to prevent the country’s centres of higher learning from falling victim to the general malaise afflicting the education sector. A total of 77 post-graduate degree-awarding universities are enlisted with the defunct UGC but only a handful of these actually impart any quality education. The HEC, one hopes, will re-evaluate the status of all such higher institutions and help improve conditions at the better ones to truly make them centres of excellence. The need to institute research-based higher education can hardly be overemphasized in the existing competitive global educational environment.

Blueprint for Lahore

THE Rs 51 billion draft master plan for Lahore 2021 presented to the city district government last week highlights the challenge of meeting the growing needs of this megacity. It makes allocations and guidelines for provision of infrastructure ranging from roads and transportation to health, housing and drainage over the next 20 years. The haphazard growth of Lahore has thrown up multiple problems of urbanization, including shanty towns, inadequate housing, poor sewerage and water supply. Priority projects have been identified for execution in these sectors over the next five years, including the completion of the Ring Road, restoration of approaches to the airport as well as improvement of the Ravi Bridge, Multan and GT Roads. Around these areas has been immense population increases over the years which has created numerous civic problems. Separate spaces have not been earmarked for civic facilities and illegal commercialization and unchecked growth of katchi abadis have added to the strains.

In this context, an important scheme relates to urban renewal and redevelopment. It envisages provision of trunk infrastructure, shifting of incompatible land uses, regulation of katchi abadis and land use readjustment. There are also projects for extension of franchised bus operations on all major corridors, gas-operated buses within urban limits and removal of bottlenecks and encroachments and provision of roads in deprived areas and improvement of low-income housing through micro credit and technical assistance. All this should go a long way in fulfilling vital civic needs. Water supply in low-pressure areas is a priority project, but close and sustained attention to it is called for in view of the fact that the ground water level has gone down considerably. Although the plan envisages a major private sector role in funding, the burgeoning problems would necessitate increased attention to resource availability as well as finetuning and upgrading of projects to meet growing civic requirements.