The Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) has sent a summary to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to rescue officially declared "corrupt" organization ie Engineering Development Board (EDB), well informed sources told Business Recorder. In May last year, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) headed by the Prime Minister had decided to dissolve the EDB due to rampant corruption there. The federal cabinet on July 13, 2017 endorsed the decision of the CCoE.
The sources said that incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, then minister for petroleum and natural resources, had supported winding up of the EDB which, according to him, is a corrupt organization. The EDB's tariff section was considered as notorious by then head Mirza Nasir Baig, the incumbent acting CEO. He has convened a meeting of EDB Board on Thursday (today) without informing to the Secretary of the Board which is an illegal act. The acting CEO wants to replace incumbent secretary of the board, who is general manager, with deputy general manager due to personal reasons.
The Prime Minister had rejected the MoI&P summary regarding the appointment of Mirza Nasir Baig as CEO but the ministry did not remove him from the position due to unknown reasons. The EDB, an organization of Ministry of Industries and Production, is under severe criticism due to rampant corruption and incompetence.
The CCoE chaired by the Prime Minister on May 29, 2017, observed that the EDB was not performing any useful function, either in terms of regulation or promotion of engineering enterprises, adding that malpractices had become endemic in the Board while exploitation of businesses by its staff had become the norm. The Board has become a major impediment to improving the ease of doing business and creating an enabling environment for industrial expansion and economic development, it was argued. The sources said that earlier Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi had endorsed the decision of the CCoE and proposed to shift different functions of the EDB to other relevant departments. However, recently he changed his viewpoint due to internal issues of the ministry.
The EDB is still being ruled by a mafia which does not allow any company or firm to get permissions without "accommodating" the officials and this was the reason Shahid Khaqan Abbasi wanted it to be dissolved, said an official on condition of anonymity. The ministry in its summary was of the view that in the interest of industrial sector, EDB's revamping and strengthening through the ECC of the Cabinet be approved. A summary was submitted by Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) on July 17, 2017 to review decision regarding disbandment of the EDB. The Prime Minister's Office raised certain observations on September 21, 2017 and directed to re-submit the summary for consideration of the Prime Minister.
The ministry further states that EDB has been actively involved in policy formulation for engineering industry and is monitoring progress of local industry under various SROs, carries out annual budget exercise, liaises with international business support organizations and international associations for development of local industry, and has successfully implemented localization programs for entire industry. The local industry has sustained under these programs. The MoI&P has requested the Prime Minister to review the decision regarding disbandment of the Engineering Development Board (EDB) in the interest of industrial sector.