| 04 September 2004 | Saturday | 18 Rajab 1425 |
PTA move
Action against polluters
The World Bank has approved a $300 million soft loan for Pakistan under its Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit (PRSC) programme. So, by the end of the last quarter of the current year Pakistan would hopefully be moving out of the grips of the lender of last resort, as the three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) programme of the IMF comes to an end.
It then passes into the hands of the World Bank through its concessional window reserved for low-income countries. According to the UNDP's Human Development Report over 32 per cent of Pakistan population was living below the poverty line in 2002.
The same report says that Pakistan ranks 142 among 171 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). Indeed, as much as 65.6 per cent of the country's population is said to be living on two dollars a day.
This means that the rest of the population (about 34 per cent) is living even below one dollar a day if the official income per capita figure of $652 is taken to be correct. However, since we all know that the per capita expenditure of a small section of the population would be at least ten times higher than the national per capita income, the official statistics appear to be hiding the real extent and depth of poverty in the country.
Indeed, it seems that while macroeconomic stability was being achieved by strictly following the IMF conditionalities, the foremost amongst which was to keep a tight leash on public expenditure, poverty was increasing.
This happened notwithstanding the relatively higher growth rates achieved in the last two years, thanks largely to generous flows of assistance related to the war on terror. While poverty was spreading deeper and wider, the rich were becoming richer by cornering the fruits of higher growth rates.
The trickle-down theory does certainly work but only when growth rates in poor countries go beyond double digits and reach somewhere around 11-12 per cent per year as they did in China in 1990s.
A growth rate of six to eight per cent per year is not enough for the gains from such growth to trickle down below the poverty line. Such growth rates do not even transfer the benefits of development to the middle income group.
So, the present government led by Mr Shaukat Aziz will have not only to accelerate the rate of growth to between 10 and 12 per cent per year in the medium term, but it will have to ensure distributive justice so as to ensure that the benefits reach the have-nots and enable them to share the fruits of development and progress.
In order to accelerate growth, the government will need to take in hand massive infrastructure projects, build roads, bridges, ports, power stations, dams and housing units, encourage agro-based industries and take agriculture-related services to the rural areas and, at the same time, launch practical and workable schemes to provide access to food, health, education, shelter and jobs to the poorer sections of the population.
Priority should also be given to human resource development at an accelerated rate while using the best of the techniques to curb population growth because a growing, unskilled and uneducated manpower will simply stifle growth no matter how much is spent on developing industry, agriculture and services.
PTA move
The warning given by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to telecom operators in the country enjoying the status of significant market players to desist from undercutting new entrants is both timely and appropriate.
It is the duty of the PTA to ensure that a level playing field exists in the telecom sector where new entrants are given the same opportunities that are available to the older, and more established, service providers.
In the past few months, following the issuance of new licences for mobile phone, long distance and wireless local loop operators, established players started offering various incentives to customers which were seen to be unfair by new telecom operators.
These included offers for free connections, undercutting pay phone charges and other incentives that could be seen as discouraging competition. It is clear that the rationale for offering these incentives was to drive out the new players from the market after which the old, established ones would once again enjoy a near monopolistic position.
In such a scenario, the PTA's latest move can be seen as a welcome step to protect the interests of the smaller operators in the market. Over the past year, the telecom sector in Pakistan has made considerable progress.
With the deregulation of the sector almost complete, a number of new entrants are taking over parts of what was one of the government's most lucrative monopolies. The investment made in this sector has been significant and is one of the few areas that have seen a lot of foreign investment at a time when most other sectors of the economy have remained stagnant.
One hopes that the investments made in the telecom sector would lead the way for further foreign investment in various sectors of the economy. From this point of view, it is important that the PTA remains vigilant about inconsistencies in the sector and acts quickly to correct them whenever they occur.
In the past, the PTA's role has been clouded by its inability to distance itself from the public sector telecommunication companies. This should be done at the earliest in order to ensure fair opportunities of operation to various service providers.
Action against polluters
Industrial outfits in the country would do well to take heed of the notices issued to 190 polluting units in Sheikhupura, accused of laxity in following the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) and of thus polluting the atmosphere.
Indeed, this legal action is a sad commentary on the general apathy and careless attitude towards the imperatives of a clean environment that prevails in the industrial sector.
Despite an elaborate environmental law and stringent NEQS that prescribe maximum emission limits, industrialists in the country have done little to adopt measures for the treatment of industrial effluents that seep into the groundwater or poison the air and natural surroundings.
The result is toxic chemicals and metals enter the food chain and thus the human body, while dangerous fumes are inhaled by those in the vicinity of these units. In both cases, the resulting effects can cause long-term health complications.
Some time ago, there was talk in the National Assembly of instituting combined effluent treatment plants in different industrial areas. But the number of industries in the country runs into thousands, and unless their owners, the majority of whom have refrained from installing individual treatment plants, show more concern, this venture can at best prove partially successful.
It is imperative, therefore, that a system of self-monitoring and of reporting pollution data to the environment protection bodies, be adhered to so that industrialists are obliged to find ways and means to limit the discharge of effluents, without necessarily constraining production levels.
Public action is also a crucial factor for lowering pollution levels as is evident from other countries where affected citizens have successfully taken erring industries to court.
This can only be achieved by periodic campaigns to spread awareness among the people of the dangers of industrial pollution - and by increasing budgetary allocations for environmental issues that have never figured prominently in the agenda of any government.