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| May 26, 2005 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1426 |
New policy orientation for development likely
ISLAMABAD, May 25: The National Economic Council (NEC) at its meeting on Friday will set seven major policy directions to ensure maximum outcome of the development expenditure, it is learnt. The NEC to be presided over by the prime minister would also approve the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2005-10, commonly known as the five-year plan. The draft MTDF was circulated to provinces in March.
Sources in the finance ministry told Dawn on Wednesday that Rs6 billion had been proposed in the next fiscal year for lining of watercourses. Simultaneously, projects for the irrigation system rehabilitation and lining of irrigation channels in Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP were initiated with an allocation of Rs2.5 billion.
The planning commission is of the opinion that if this Rs2.5 billion is spent on improvement of watercourses, the wastage of water will decrease and the project will be completed on schedule. The NEC has been asked to decide whether to spend this amount on improvement of watercourses or on lining of the irrigation system.
Secondly, the NEC had decided in March that next year allocations would be made for only those projects whose PC-Is had been received by the planning commission by April 30 of the previous year.
The ministry of science and technology has requested waiver of this condition as it was unable to submit PC-1s of its projects by April 30, 2005. The NEC will decide whether or not to grant this waiver.
Thirdly, the federal ministries and divisions have demanded an allocation of Rs1.224 billion to initiate projects for office and residential accommodation.
The planning commission has proposed that this amount should be allocated for other infrastructure projects, like water, which are under funded. The NEC would take a decision whether to spend this amount for residential and office accommodation or on infrastructure projects.
Fourth, Wapda has been advised by the prime minister to raise Rs8 billion through bonds against sovereign guarantees to complete the Mangla dam raising project in time. The water and power ministry, however, has expressed its inability to raise the funding. The NEC has been requested to decide as to how this gap can be bridged.
The Narcotics Control Division is managing and operating drugs treatment and rehabilitation centres. The planning commission has proposed that these centres can be managed by experts under the health ministry and has asked the NEC to transfer the job from the narcotics division to the health ministry.
Sixth, the chief minister of Balochistan has requested that the Panjgur-Gutch-Awaran provincial road be rehabilitated by the National Highway Authority without it being declared a federal road. The NEC has been requested to consider the request.
Seventh, the Drought Emergency Relief Assistance (DERA) has been completed in December 2004 and the annual plan coordination committee has recommended that a DERA-II programme be started in the next fiscal year through foreign and local funding. The NEC has been asked to approve this recommendation.
The NEC has also been requested to authorize the planning commission to make adjustments, when needed, within the same size of the development programme to accommodate important schemes on the basis of quarterly review of projects.
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