Former Finance Minister Salman Shah believes that development spending on mega projects has failed to contribute in improving the standard of living of the average Pakistanis. Speaking at a public discussion on 'Mega Project, Markets, and Economic Growth', organised by PRIME Institute in partnership with the Fredrich Naumann Foundation, Dr Salman Shah said that despite spending over $500 billion in the last 10 years, Pakistan has managed only to place itself amongst states with the most wasteful public spending in world.
Dr Shah said that economic institution had become politicised, and political emphasis was on starting new projects instead of completing previously initiated ones. Also part of the panel was Supreme Court lawyer Mujtaba Jamal, who noted that government's across the world struggle to finance mega project.
Mujtaba added that in developing countries with mega problems, the solution to most civic problems would appear in mega scale projects. Rafay Alam, a noted environmental lawyer and activist highlighted social concerns relating to large scale projects, and raised the matter of inadequate planning and research in the design and development phase. He added that there was a critical need for ensuring fair and efficient compensation mechanism of land acquisitions for mega projects, and an improved resettlement policy should be adopted.
Hussain Qazi, of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), an organisation working on some of the most complex mega projects ever attempted, noted that social and human considerations were just as important as financial and managerial elements. He gave the example of the FWO in disaster relief for vulnerable communities, which while a deviance from the organisations stated function, helped improve relations with local communities, and helped streamline projects. Executive Director of PRIME Ali Salman offered alternates to conventional financing, ownership, pricing and management models for infrastructure projects.-PR
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