QUETTA: The federal government on Friday not only agreed to restore all Balochistan projects that had been dropped from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) but also vowed to include some additional projects for the province in the PSDP.

The decision was formally taken at a two-day joint meeting of senior officials of the planning commission of Pakistan and provincial financial and planning managers. Planning commission adviser Asif Sheikh represented the federal government while Additional Chief Secretary (Planning and Development) Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta, Finance Secretary Noor-ul-Amin and relevant provincial secretaries represented the provincial government.

The meeting discussed matters pertaining to the slashed development projects and Balochistan’s apprehensions regarding slashing of funds days after Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani, ministers, parliamentarians representing the province in a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan had expressed serious reservations about the planning commission’s decision to slash projects.

They demanded that Islamabad should revisit its decisions regarding the development of Balochistan.

At the joint session, the planning commission officials agreed that the Balochistan projects that had been dropped from the federal PSDP would be restored and efforts would be made to address the grievances in this regard.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2019