The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Planning and Development Wednesday flayed Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and the Secretary Planning for ignoring the parliamentary committee and stated that "the minister attended only one meeting of the committee during last two and a half years."
The standing committee meeting was presided over by chairman of the committee Abdul Majeed Khan. The meeting decided to write a letter to the minister to know his concerns and seeking his availability so that the next meeting could be convened accordingly. "We want a detailed briefing from the Minister for Planning and Development on all the components of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)," said chairman of the committee Abdul Majeed Khan.
Chairman of the committee further stated that the Secretary Planning and Development should also come along with the minister because he has also been frequently absent from the meetings of the committee. Members of the committee also flayed weak monitoring system for federal government funded development projects as well as so many centers within the ministry for monitoring of the projects. Why there is a need of watchdogs within a department to monitor its own projects and can country afford all these expenditure, members of the committee expressed their surprise after knowing the long list of monitoring units.
Additional Secretary Planning and Development Zafar Hasan gave a briefing on 23 projects of Ministry of Planning and Development as well as on their total cost and proposed allocation for the next fiscal year. The meeting of the committee was informed that Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2016-17 of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform is expected to consist of 23 approved projects, with total estimated cost of Rs 21.857 billion. The project authorities have indicated a requirement of Rs 5.982 billion funds for 2016-17 for these projects.
The meeting was further told that Ministry of Finance has not provided the Indicative Budget Ceiling of the Ministry. As such, the figures are indicative and will he revised as per the IBC to be provided by the Finance Division. The ministry has proposed an allocation of Rs 200 million for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Support Project for the next fiscal year, Rs 200 million for Development Communication Project, Rs 6 million for establishment of environment section in Planning & Development Division Islamabad, Rs 13.281 million for establishment of special project cell Islamabad (only for ongoing activities), Rs 14 million for inspector general development projects, Balochistan phase-II Quetta, Rs 30 million institutional strengthening and efficiency enhancement of planning commission/planning development division Islamabad (revised), Rs 35.789 million monitoring of PSDP financed projects (OMPFP) Islamabad, Rs 3,000 million for National Endowment Scholarships for Talent (NEST), Rs 200 million for reform and innovation in government for high performance, etc.