Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Dr Salman Shah has said that economic growth cannot be achieved without transparency, accountability and merit and added that issues piled up in the last 70 years cannot be resolved in the wink of an eye.
"Institutional reforms, good governance and rule of law are vital to long-term growth," he said while addressing journalists and anchors of channels, here on Saturday.
He further said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is a reality and positive steps were being taken for revival of trust in the bureaucracy. He also said that in the past effective planning was not made for a stable economic growth; however, the situation will change with proper planning.
On the orange train, he said that the government will require Rs 5 billion subsidy and Rs 25 billion loans to make it operational.
Referring to 56 companies, he revealed that management flaws were a major issue in all the companies; no objectives were set for them in the assembly nor any report on their performance was submitted.
"The Punjab economic plan is focusing on short-term, midterm and long-term plans; the annual development plan and growth strategy are both short-term and midterm plans while spatial strategy is a 30-year plan," he added.
According to him, the spatial strategy focuses on the issues that were ignored by the successive governments in the past. The strategy focuses on industrial productivity of every district, efficiency of labour force and human resource, and accordingly plans are made.
He was of the view that moving irrigation system to cities will be beneficial for the province.
He admitted that the work on the CPEC projects slowed down during the change of government, but it will not affect the health of these projects. "Completion of the CPEC projects will strengthen the bilateral ties between Pakistan and China," he added.