ISLAMABAD, June 26: The Planning Commission has launched preparations to formulate 5-year plan which will commence on July 1, 2005 and cover the remainder of the on-going 10-year perspective plan period , Dawn has learnt from a reliable source here on Saturday.

The go-ahead for what marks a significant departure from the absence of centralised planning was given by the National Economic Council (NEC) to Planning Commission in its pre-budget meeting early this month.

"Centralised planning does not mean centralised control," said the Commission's Deputy Chairman, Dr. Engr. Akram Shaikh while talking to this correspondent.

In a free-market economy, centralized planning is especially very necessary because the potential entrepreneurs need to know in which fields and areas of the country their investment would be feasible in terms of infrastructure and outcome.

Last time the Commission engaged in this task was in the second half of 1990s. But the document of the 9th Five Year Plan for the period up to 2000 only gathered dust in its office.

Instead, the government decided to pre-occupy itself with the policies meant to implement the loan conditionalities of the IMF and other Bretton Woods institutions.

The Planning Commission were at a loss to give a name to the next 5-Year Plan. "Might it be called the 10th Plan?" a senior Commission official was asked. He replied, "Perhaps".

The implementation period of the Plan would commence on July 1, 2005, and end in June 2011.

The new Plan, Dr. Shaikh said, would be different from its predecessors because it would aim at "technology driven development in the resource-scarce economy of Pakistan."

The Commission has yet to decide about the size of the Plan. This will be done after detailed studies of the potential of the existing industrial skills and the requirements of the new technologies that may be identified by experts as being viable in Pakistan.

It was envisaged to involve the private sector both in the formulation and fulfilment of its financial requirements.

More than 30 Committees comprising the functionaries of various Ministries and institutions and experts from the private sector have been constituted. They would submit their reports on their respective spheres within three months. The Plan document would be presented to the NEC in its pre-budget meeting next year.

The Plan would focus on enhancing the value-addition of existing traditional industries. In this connection, he cited as examples the bangle-making in Hyderabad, cutlery, surgical instruments and sports in Sialkot and the metallurgical industries of Gujranwala.

The objective, Dr. Shaikh said, was to create wealth and distribute and re-distribute it, thus minimising poverty instead of "redistributing poverty". With the achievement of various features of the Plan, the GDP growth rate might also be raised to 10pc.

Most pivotal in the Plan would be education and training to upgrade skills and standardise products through an elaborate infrastructure for imparting technical education and vocational training to the people.

Dr Shaikh referred in this connection to the Finance Minister's budget speech, which had unveiled the decision to establish a Vocational Training Authority in which the private sector would be the active participant. He had promised a number of incentives such as tax concessions in this regard.

The motto underlying the Plan formulation, he said, was: the "real engine of growth in Pakistan are the people and technology". In this connection, he pointed to Japan whose main resource were its people, unlike other countries which had oceans of oil but neglected human resource.

As, however, the example of Japan also shows, the protection of the workers' rights and other social sector needs such as education, health, shelter, water supply and sanitation were indispensable for a wholesome progress of any nation.

The Plan, Dr Shaikh further explained, would be a "detailed economic road map" which would provide vital information about the resources of each area.

It would address the problem of minerals being given the final shape close to the mines. The investors would be encouraged to invest in such projects so that the expenditure incurred on transportation of raw minerals to big cities might be avoided.

Likewise, petro-chemical industries might be located in oil and gas fields.

These measures would generate employment in remote areas where such resources are located.