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ISLAMABAD: The Planning Commission of Pakistan (PCP) has launched Public Sector Development Projects Report highlighting the completion of 167 development projects costing Rs. 95,294.12 million.
According to Planning Commission sources, the commission was assigned the task delivering growth through planning and projects' implementation.
“Through nine plans and several 'visions' and other well researched documents, the Planning Commission has tried to work this mandate” the sources said.
What has endured in the Planning mechanism has been the “Public Sector Development Plan” and the “projects” it funds”, they remarked.
Highlighting the implementation data of projects, they said that 37 development schemes in infrastructure sector worth Rs.76576.43 million have been completed - 40 projects in social sector costing Rs.4865.23 million and 90 projects worth Rs.13852.45 million.
“To understand public service delivery and growth in the country, we need to understand “projects”, their implementation and finally their delivery to the people of Pakistan”, said Dr. Nadeem Ul Haq, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan while addressing senior officials of the commission.
The official sources said that the implementation and execution of the PSDP funded projects had brought relief to the general public at large and contributed to the national economy.
However, it may not be enough in the backdrop of rapidly growing population and consequent increased demand for provision of social services and infrastructure facilities, they remarked.
Realizing this, they said that the government endeavoured to ensure provision of basic facilities to a major portion of population and further plans to extend these to all the provinces/regions of the country through fiscal decentralization and resources transfer as per NFC award, they remarked.
The sources said that in order to disseminate pertinent information to the stakeholders in the national development process, the Planning Commission has complied information on the PSDP projects completed during financial year 2009-10.
Three volumes, containing information on these completed projects have been prepared by the Projects Wing of the Planning Commission.
“The project life cycle comprises five stages which include a) Identification and preparation b) Appraisal and Approval c) Execution d) Completion and e) Evaluation.”, they remarked.
They said that the Planning Commission was responsible for the appraisal and approval of projects and for third party monitoring and evaluation of the PSDP projects.
Ministries, the main stakeholders, are required to take corrective measures during execution and completion of project, they remarked.
They said that the Planning Commission's Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (MEU) played a key role in streamlining project implementation within approved time, cost and scope.
The MEU is continually trying to provide useful guidelines to implementing agencies as well as feedback to the policy makers to affect improvements for better utilization of available resources.
The Planning Commission, they further said, was trying to improve its monitoring functions by making use of its monitoring reports and data available to the public.
The use of public resources must be used to benefit the people of country. The PCP's reporting to the people must make apparent both the good points as well as the emerging problems in the project implementation process. Ultimately the goal is to deliver better assets and service to the people, the sources remarked.
The PCP, they added, had already started reporting on the projects that had been completed. The website was being continually updated.
According to Dr. Nadeem Ul Haq, “a substantial number of projects are completed every year, and now need to move to the next stage: assess the value of these projects to society, the economy and the people”
The Planning Commission Pakistan has launched a report on Public Sector Development (PSDP) projects, which has been placed at the Planning Commission's website, they said.
They added that several important problems have been identified in the monitoring process which the shows that projects tend to suffer because of the lack of professional management capacity.
According to the report, the continuing fiscal policy difficulties have not only starved projects of financing but also have made funding volatile at the cost of project implementation and cost overruns and penalties are continuously being incurred as a result.
The report further identified that the land Acquisition remains variable that is continuously inflating costs adding that inadequate preparation such as well prepared feasibilities, clear project management plans often lead to confused implementation such as unsynchronized procurements and construction.
Finally, there seems to be limited planning on post completion maintenance or effective administration of the project for maximizing benefits to the people.
