ISLAMABAD - Federal Planning and Reform Minister Ahsan Iqbal yesterday said Chabahar was no threat to Pakistan and claimed that Gwadar was seven years ahead of any contemporary port in the region.

“We don’t consider Chabahar as a threat as we want the integration of the entire region as the 21st century belongs to Asia and by 2050, 52 percent contribution to global trade will come from the region,” Ahsan Iqbal said, while addressing a press conference on PSDP. “South Asia, China and Central Asia are going to be the main actors in international trade and Pakistan in middle of all these regions will be the centre of these activities,” he maintained.

The minister also announced that 2,400MW RLNG power plants, located in the Punjab, would be privatised after their completion. “The RLNG powers plants are good for investment point of view and becoming attractive for investors,” Ahsan Iqbal said.

The minister announced farmers would see a big relief in the upcoming budget. On the directive of the prime minister, the finance ministry is making a package to provide relief to farmers and reduce the input cost of farming, Ahsan Iqbal said.

He said when PML-N took over, the country was facing several challenges which were affecting industries, agriculture, health, education and other sectors. The main challenge, he said, were power shortage, budget deficit which was around 9 percent, stagnant economic growth, the worst security situation and low foreign investment.

The minister said the government had earmarked Rs 1,675 billion in the forthcoming budget for development schemes under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2016-17. He said there was no cut imposed on the PSDP. “Out of the total allocation, Rs 875 have been earmarked for the provinces,” he said.

Giving the details, he said out of Rs 655 PSDP, Rs 468 billion were allocated for infrastructure, including Rs 157 billion for power, Rs 260 billion for transport and communications, Rs 33 billion for water and Rs 18 billion for physical planning and housing.

Similarly, Rs 89 billion allocated for social sector, Rs 29 billion for education, including Higher Education Commission (HEC), Rs 30 billion for health and population, Rs 20 billion for Sustainable Development Goals Programme and Rs 10 billion for other social sectors, he added.

The minister said Rs 9 billion were allocated for science and IT, Rs 8 billion for governance, Rs 42 billion for special areas, including AJK, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan. Rs 7 billion were earmarked for ERRA. He said out of Rs 4 billion for production, Rs 2 billion each were earmarked for industries and food and agriculture sectors. Ahsan Iqbal said Rs 28 billion were earmarked for special federal development programme under PSDP.

Regarding Rs 875 billion allocated for provincial ADP, the minister said Rs 460 billion will go to Punjab, Rs 211 billion to Sindh, Rs 143 billion to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rs 61 billion to Balochistan. Rs 145 billion were allocated for TDPs, prime minister’s youth loan scheme/ laptop scheme and gas development infrastructure, the minister added.

He said for the first time in the last many years, a target of 4.7 percent growth was achieved. The growth was affected by cotton fiasco and global crash in agriculture commodity prices. “We could have easily achieved the target of 5.5 percent in case of bumper cotton crop,” he added.

“In the fiscal year 2016-17, the growth target is 5.7 and I hope we will achieve it as the government is taking some steps to facilitate farmers and reduce their input in farming,” Ahsan Iqbal said, adding on the face of continuous power supply to industries, the sector has been performing well for the last eight months and it is hoped it will help in achieving the growth target of the coming fiscal year. He said Pakistan is trying to switch to value-added products to increase its exports. A special project of olive plantation was included in the PSDP which will help in boosting export, he added.

He said in the PSDP the government set its priorities and focused on three main areas, including energy, infrastructure and human resource.

He said CPEC is a gift from God for the people of Pakistan and Rs 125 billion was earmarked for the corridor. He said within one year CPEC has become a reality from mere a piece of paper. Work on the CPEC project is moving past and so far out of $46 billion corridor portfolio, $ 30 billion are either approved or at approval stage, the minister said.

He said special focus is being placed on the education sector and budget of HEC was increased from Rs 20 billion to 21 billion in the fiscal 2016-17. Universities are being established in Fata and Balochistan and it is planned that the government will establish university campuses at all the district headquarters.

He said in 1999 the country had only 350 PhDs, their number increased to 7,500; now the government wants to make it double and is planning to have 10,000 more PhDs in 10 years. “We want that PhDs should not be only classroom teachers, but they should do research and establish a link between academia and industry,” he said, adding Rs one billion were allocated in the PSDP for research grant. The minister said the government has a adopted a new policy for the PSDP allocation and is no more making sick projects its part. The planning ministry also helped in saving around Rs 570 billion by rationalising the cost of various projects.

When asked the cotton crop was affected not by disease only, but by the sugarcane cultivation in the cotton fields of South Punjab as the ruling family and some of its near and dear ones have reportedly established sugar mills there and the farmers there switched from cotton to sugarcane, the minister replied Nawaz family didn’t establish sugar mills in the past two years. When a journalist said they have set up sugar mill in Muzafargarh, the minister reluctantly said he doesn’t know about any such development.