EDITORIAL: Why go through the trouble of dissolving Pak-PWD (Pakistan Public Works Department) – on the orders of the prime minister, to check unnecessary bleeding from the exchequer – if a “new body” has to be set up in its place?
Now we’re told that a Pakistan Infrastructure Development and Asset Management Authority will be created, through an Act, to take responsibility for “construction of offices of federal departments and the construction and completion of development projects of PSDP”.
Also, “the asset wing of the authority will compile and monitor records of PWD and federal properties”, according to a special committee that met under the chairmanship of the federal minister for housing and construction after the prime minister decided to axe the PWD.
How do you save money by cutting dead wood if you turn around and throw more money and time into replacing it with something similar, with a different name of course, and making sure that all the confusing divisions, sub-divisions and overlapping continues as before in government departments? This seems like another textbook example of doing the right thing the wrong way; something in which Pakistani administrations, this one in particular, seem to naturally excel at.
The PM made much mention of the nightmare of qualifying for another IMF bailout when he pulled the plug on PWD, implying in no uncertain terms how waste of resources is needed to be controlled.
He should now explain how the PWD idea is a good example of cutting costs. Because, if the idea was to close unnecessary subsidiaries of different ministries to create fiscal space, then the numbers would have to do the talking.
And it would be very interesting, and instructive, to see how replacing one outfit that is a drag on resources with another one to take its place can cushion federal reserves. Exactly, how this saves money, and to what extent, needs to be explained a lot better; not least to see whether this example can be applied across the board.
Such restructuring requires meticulous planning and, once again, the numbers have to be right. Since we’re talking about government departments, there’s also the headache of protesting employees and trade unions who’re always worried that such shuffling can upset their sarkari perks and privileges.
And, on cue, PWD employees took to protesting the minute they got wind of the government’s plans to shut down their department, even though all that has been announced so far is that gazette technical officers will be given golden handshakes and the non-technical staff will be transferred to the establishment division surplus pool – where they will most likely sit idle and collect their dues till the new authority starts working.
All this raises some serious questions. Let’s not forget that things are now so bad that the country is one wrong decision away from sovereign default, because if the IMF lifeline is compromised at any point in the EFF (Extended Fund Facility), the tens of billions of dollars of debt repayment will become due before too long. And, above all, the Fund demands the government raise revenue and cut losses – the common sense approach that has eluded us so far.
The government has already disappointed everybody on the revenue front, by refusing to levy additional tax on the official elite and piling the entire burden on non-official entities, middle- and lower-income groups, with the jury still out on whether such unrealistic plans can ever really work. Now it looks sorely wrong-footed on cost-cutting as well. Suffice it to say, this is not the ideal start to the most crucial, make-or-break fiscal year in this country’s troubled history.
How ironic, however, it is that the government is still shielding and showering its officials with pay increases, making a bad situation worse. Needless to say, the costs of fiscal profligacy are indeed huge. Unfortunately, however, the government appears to be still asleep at the wheel.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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