ISLAMABAD, June 1: President Pervez Musharraf has expressed displeasure at the “unfocussed, superfluous and cumbersome” presentations and briefings by various ministries and public sector corporations that have wasted his “precious time”.

“Resultantly, the core issues are relegated and more time is spent on peripheral areas,” said a letter issued by the chief executive secretariat to all ministries, divisions and corporations.

Official sources said that in most of the cases the relevant authorities have failed to complete their briefings in the stipulated time, and the president’s engagements had to be cancelled or rescheduled; thus causing financial loss to the exchequer.

In some cases, important items of the briefings had to be dropped for another time, which never happened.

“It may please be appreciated that time of the President, Chief Executive is highly precious and it must be utilized optimally and pragmatically.

“To achieve this objective short and precise presentation is essential to make the discourse meaningful,” said letter No.5180/ Dir(Coord)/CES/ 2002 issued on May 28.

In recent days, the president was given a number of briefings on law and order, intelligence network, privatization, Wapda and public sector development programme.

A briefing last week on diverging positions taken by ministries of petroleum, production and privatization relating to the sale of nine oil and gas fields, the source said, was the immediate reason behind the issuance of a reprimanding letter.

The relevant authorities were directed “to avoid lengthy briefings and ensure strict adherence to timings with a focus on concrete recommendations to seek appropriate decisions,” said the letter issued by the chief executive’s secretariat.