Approval of 42 projects

A meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) of the Planning Commission has approved 42 uplift projects, worth Rs 107.2 billion, including 27 in the infrastructure sector at a cost of Rs 49.3 billion, and 13 in the social sector worth Rs 57.6 billion. The CDWP has also recommended a Rs 4 billion Swat development package to the Ecnec for approval, for the resettlement of the IDPs.
The package will help stimulate economic activity in the area. The population welfare programme, an on-going activity in all the provinces, has been extended till 2014, at a cost of Rs 50 billion. The CDWP has, however, established a committee to fashion a better delivery mechanism, which is a wise move, given the poor performance of the programme. The CDWP has also approved the construction of a 132-kilowatt grid station in Bajaur, and the Dargai Pall small dam in South Waziristan, costing Rs 453 million, and Rs 313.232 million respectively.
The CDWP has authorised Wapda to conduct a feasibility study of the 2800-megawatt Pattan hydropower project. In the transport sector, the construction of bridges over the River Indus, connecting Larkana and Khairpur, linking it with Kandhkot located on the Indus Highway N-55 with Ghotki, and a bridge on River Ravi on Kamalia-Harappa Road, has been recommended to the Ecnec at a cost of Rs 17.4 billion. This will help provide a better road link with the economically backward areas. All the 42 projects the CDWP has cleared, are essential for different sectors of the economy, and need to be executed with due diligence and dispatch. However, even more crucial is their time-bound and cost-effective implementation, which is the real challenge.
Implementation of projects, particularly in the infrastructure sector, has proved to be an arduous task in our country, largely because of a lop-sided approach. Approval and efficient implementation of schemes, being two sides of the same coin, ought to have been given equal importance, which has not been the case, due to different reasons. At times, it seems that project formulation is being treated as an end in itself, probably to project an image of efficiency. This has resulted in the accumulation of huge backlogs.
Then, there is the question of quality of implementation, which must be ensured at all costs. Numerous factors have served as impediments in the timely execution of projects in the country, leading to enormous cost-overruns. Secondly, a factor that has stymied project implementation has been the mid-way re-setting of priorities, at times influenced by personal preferences. Delayed release of funds and a host of other procedural bottlenecks too have been responsible for the tardy pace of execution, which results in hefty cost overruns. (Incidentally, cost overruns are also routinely approved at the CDWP meetings, apparently without many questions being asked.) This has served as a major drain on our scarce and borrowed resources.
Above all, there has always been considerable mismatch between our ambitious projects and our restricted delivery capacity. It will be recalled that government expenditure used to be categorised into revenue and capital expenditure. But with the adoption of planned development, the budget has become an instrument for carrying out the objectives of the Plan, and it has become necessary to distinguish between the expenditure that contributes to economic uplift, and the non-development expenditure.
Approval of schemes, though a critical first step, is as important as their timely and cost-effective implementation. The economy can benefit only when the basic parameters are strictly observed. Secondly, pilferage and misuse of funds must be plugged by holding audit with greater frequency, to deter corruption. The government should set up a multi-tiered oversight mechanism with built-in safeguards. The government should ensure that the projects approved by CDWP are executed on time, and within the assigned allocations.