THIS penchant for cutting ribbons and unveiling plaques that our government functionaries appear to have can get a little puzzling at times. It is government by photo op while the real nature of the projects being inaugurated amidst all the pageantry remains shrouded in mystery. A few days ago, we had an opportunity to witness a ribbon being cut for the second time for a project in Azad Kashmir. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had first done the needful 15 months ago at what was ostensibly the groundbreaking ceremony of the Gulpur hydropower plant. But oddly enough, this week the Private Power Infrastructure Board held another ‘foundation stone-laying ceremony’ for the same project. Someone in government needs to answer why the project is being inaugurated again, and, once that has been sorted out, why there has been a 15-month gap between the two ‘inaugurations’.

One explanation is that it has to do with delays in obtaining financial close on the project. It turns out that the prime minister had cut the ribbon before the project achieved financial close. But once that milestone was crossed, the PPIB could not resist the temptation of having a second round of fanfare. This excessive partiality for ceremonial self-congratulation could be taken in stride if there was evidence of competent follow-up on project selection and execution. But there is now a string of such ceremonial photo ops for projects whose merit has been cast in doubt — such as the Nandipur power plant, or initiatives that were later shelved because of their defective feasibility such as the Gadani Power Park. This rush for photo ops and bragging rights, quite apart from the absurdity of cutting a ribbon for the same project twice, is unseemly and lends the government’s development approach an air of amateurishness. Is it too much to ask that cutting ribbons, unveiling plaques and making congratulatory speeches be held off until some concrete progress on ongoing projects is achieved? It would certainly save many of us from an embarrassing spectacle.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2017