It was revealed in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms that the people are suffering due to the lack of development projects relating to education, health, clean drinking water, natural gas, electrification and sanitation etc because of poor performance of provincial governments and non-existence of local government system.
Planning, Development and Reform Commission Secretary Hassan Nawaz Tarar also told the Committee that "we are off track in meeting targets (goals) in many sectors including, health, education, clean drinking water and other areas due to poor performance of the provinces". He said that it was primary responsibilities of the provinces, as these sectors were devolved under the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
The Committee met under the chairmanship of Abdul Majeed Khan Khanan Khail at the Planning Commission Auditorium on Wednesday. The Committee discussed Pakistan MDGs and Community Development Programme, policy of the government to uplift less development areas and measures taken in this regard along with budgetary proposals. During the discussion, it was also said that some development projects were overlapped by the federal and provincial governments.
A member of the Committee MNA Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal has proposed to collect data about the public buildings, including hospitals, schools and other institutions and to bring them in the system of computer as code numbers. Dr Nafisa Shah said that for this purpose, a local government system should be introduced in the country. During the meeting, the Cabinet Secretary also briefed the Committee about a special development program "Pak MDGs Community Development Programme" launched by the government.
Cabinet Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad said security issues, war on terror, energy crisis and economic meltdown have affected the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Targets (MDGs). He said that Pakistan was also facing urban and rural infrastructure constraints and gaps such as poor sanitation, limited or no access to education and health facilities and clean drinking water etc. In addition, thousands of villages are still without electricity, he said.
He said that there was, therefore, a need to implement a targeted programme at grassroots level not only to achieve MDGs, but also to cater to community needs and cover the gaps by providing missing links. These efforts would focus on improvement of quality of life of poor segments of the society both in urban and rural areas and substantially supplement efforts of the provincial governments in this regard, he said.
According to "Pakistan MDGs Community Development Programme" which is propose scheme on the specified relating to the sectors of (i) education, (ii) health, (iii) drinking water (iv) farm to market roads, (v) streets / pavements / culverts, (vi)embankments, (vii)sanitation, (viii) electrification / solar energy, (ix) natural gas and (x) interventions leading to MDGs.
At least 15 residents of an area or civil society organisation will make a request on the prescribed proforma for intervention in sectors reflected at Para 3. Scheme(s) with estimated cost of Rs 500,000 or more shall be included in the programme. This request shall be forwarded to the concerned DC/DCO or relevant executing agencies for processing.
The DC/DCO or relevant executing agencies will forward the request to the concerned executing agencies for technical feasibility and cost estimates. The proposal would then be submitted to the competent forum such as DDWP, PDWP and CDWP for approval.
Based on amount approved by the competent authority, funding for the federally executed scheme(s) shall be made to the respective PAO in the form of surrender order for obtaining funds through technical supplementary grant. For schemes to be executed by the provincial authorities, funds shall be transferred to the provincial accounts through AGPR by issuing sanction letter duly endorsed by FA's organisation.
Schemes identified for a specified financial year shall be completed within the same year. No cost overrun will be admissible and there shall be no cushion available to meet any extra cost on any account. Additional funding/throw forward will not be permissible. Lapsed funds in one financial year shall not be recouped in the next financial year.
The savings against the schemes completed shall be surrendered immediately on completion of the scheme without waiting for closing of the financial year. Expenditure shall not be incurred on purchase of equipment, vehicles, fixtures, salaries, printing of diaries / calendars / banners, holding of official meetings and dinners / parties etc. Similarly, no administrative overheads shall be charged by any agency for execution of the schemes. No new schemes shall be entertained against savings of the originally funded schemes.