Approval of mega projects

The approval by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) of 37 mega projects worth Rs 232.38 billion clearly promises improvement in different sectors of the economy, including the grossly neglected infrastructure sector.
A CDWP meeting, presided over by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Akram Sheikh, has approved/recommended 20 projects in infrastructure sector at a total cost of Rs 208.12 billion; 15 projects in social sector worth Rs 22.5 billion; and two in other sectors worth Rs 1.6 million.
However, out of these 37 projects, 17 have been referred to Ecnec for approval as CDWP is empowered only to sanction projects of up to Rs 500 million, and has to "recommend" schemes above this amount to Ecnec for approval.
According to a Recorder Report, six projects worth Rs 151 billion have been approved for Punjab; seven for Sindh worth Rs 21.3 billion; six for NWFP worth Rs 23.8 billion; one for Fata worth Rs 0.2 billion; two projects of Rs 0.69 billion for AJK and 12 for the country as a whole at a total allocation of Rs 32.23 billion.
The projects CDWP has recommended to Ecnec for approval include the construction of Rs 4.8 billion Larkana-Khairpur bridge over the river Indus; an additional carriageway of National Highway (Sehwan-Ratodero section) worth Rs 12.3 billion; Rs 2.3 billion improvement in National Highway (N-45); and projects in communication sector worth Rs 13.5 billion.
Meanwhile, CDWP has deferred work on Rs 27.8 billion land acquisition and resettlement project for Diamer-Bhasha dam; the Rs 67 billion scheme of land acquisition for Akhori dam and Rs 57.6 billion for Kalabagh dam, and constituted a committee for evaluation of technical and socio-economic aspects of all the five major dams.
The CDWP has obviously not approved such mega projects for the first time. The national media has in fact been awash with mega projects and mega allocations over the years. What the country needs is their expeditious and faithful implementation within the shortest possible timeframe to keep up the tempo of ambitious growth along the trajectory the government has set for the economy.
As things stand today there seems to be a growing disconnect between the policymaking and the implementation arms of the government, which should be speedily bridged if we want to see visible improvement on the ground.
The infrastructure sector for which CDWP has approved the highest number of projects, ie, 20 worth Rs 208.12 billion, happens to be the most neglected sector of the economy.
The next is the human resource sector. Delayed implementation of projects has often resulted in huge cost overruns. Take the instance of power sector. According to one estimate, we will require an investment of $2.9 billion by 2007, and $20.4 billion by 2010-2013 for mega power projects, and for the existing system's improvement.
The country's total power production at present stands at 19.404 megawatts while we will be in need of another 5,529 megawatts by the year 2010 to meet our spiralling demand. (The recent countrywide power breakdown had exposed the pathetic state of power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure).
According to one projection, Pakistan's energy demand is likely to rise by 10-12 percent annually in the foreseeable future. If extrapolated, this means that the country's energy requirements may go up by about 100 percent before 2015!
The CDWP has also sanctioned feasibility studies for setting up six additional nuclear power plants to tide over our mounting energy deficit. However, with our credibility having taken a severe battering following disclosure of the "Khan proliferation network" (which has since been effectively shut down) we may have to work really hard to re-establish our credentials to get six nuclear power plants.
Secondly, the tenuous security situation in the entire tribal belt has effectively put on hold the IPI and TAP projects, while the proposed dams will take many years to complete. All this is going to force us to rely on the economically crippling thermal option.
So much for our planning and implementation in the power sector. Things are not any better in human resource development, communication, industrial and agriculture sectors either. However, the real estate sector has posted tremendous growth in recent years, thanks largely to the uncanny acumen of land speculators and resourceful property developers.
The unsavoury downside to mega projects is mega corruption, which has apparently catapulted us on Transparency International's index of global corruption. According to one estimate, the annual corruption by petty bureaucracy in the country alone amounts to Rs 45 billion.
However, there is a perception that this amount is only "small change" compared to what may well be going on in the higher echelons. Incidentally, most of the projects in our country are often executed at a breakneck speed at the fag end of the financial year, a practice that has not only opened up additional avenues of corruption, but has also lowered the standards of project execution.
Then, there is the time-tested practice of "khana puri" which has been a favourite pastime not only of many in the bureaucracy, but also in the ruling echelons.
Without any intention of casting aspersions on the good intentions or efficiency of the present dispensation, we have only identified some of the factors that have chained us as a nation to underdevelopment and servitude to international moneylenders. Meanwhile, we wish to see speedy implementation of the projects CDWP has approved.