ISLAMABAD - Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that they will pursue the Ministry of Finance to increase the ceiling for the public sector development funds from Rs700 billion to Rs1000 billion for the next fiscal.
The minister also said that since June 2013, the government managed to rationalise over Rs550 billion in 752 development projects. A special event was arranged to celebrate the achievement of saving Rs550 billion where the minister also cut a cake. On the occasion, the minister said that the Ministry of Finance has provided a ceiling of Rs700 billion for the PSDP 2017-18 but since it was the last year of the government therefore they will pursue the finance ministry to enhance the ceiling.
Regarding the finalisation of the PSDP, the minister said that the meeting of the Annual Planning Coordination Committee (APCC) has been convened on May 17 and the meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) will be held on May 21 or 22, depends on the availability of the prime minister.
Regarding the saving in the cost of the projects, the minister said that saving was made possible through rationalisation, transparency and better scrutiny. He said that the past government started new projects without proper estimation and technical design under political pressure. "The governments used to make token allocations for the projects and were stretching the PSDP, which was resulted in the underfunding of the projects,” he added. Due to underfunding, the projects were delayed which resulted in the increase of cost, he added.
“We also face political pressure but now the government has set the parameters for initiating new projects and have asked all the concerned quarters to not approve the project without proper estimation and technical design,” he said. Similarly, if the fund is not guaranteed for any project it will not get the approval, he added.
“We have received some sick project from the past government which was ill-planned and underfunded, which includes Neelum Jhelum, Lowari Tunnel, Islamabad Airport. Neelum Jhelum project was started at Rs80 billion but has reached to around Rs500 billion. Its tariff is most expensive among all the hydel projects, he added.
However, he said that due to the present government's commitment the project that was considered white elephant such as Islamabad New Airport, Kachi Canal, N-85, Lowari Tunner and Munda Dam were revived.
Similarly, Munda dam project was delayed as there were design controversy amongst various departments but now the design of Munda Dam project was completed and work on this project would be started in next fiscal year. Similalry, he said the government released funds for Lowari Tunnel which would be completed soon. New Islamabad Airport will be also completed during the current year, he said.
When asked about where the saving was made, the minister said that in Jamshoro a rationalisation of Rs70 billion was made. Similarly, Rs10 billion was saved in Neelum Jhelum. To provide the details of the rest of the remaining 750 projects, the minister has directed the ministry officials to share it to the media, however, no details was shared with the media till the filling of the story.