ISLAMABAD-The federal government has constituted two special committees to make plans for the development of under privileged areas of Balochistan particularly southern part and Gwadar.
The decision was taken in a meeting held here to discuss various issues related to development work in the province of Balochistan. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired the meeting while Minister for Maritime Affairs, Minister for Water Resources, Minister for Industries and Production, Minister for Information and Technology, Advisor to PM on Commerce, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Secretary Planning and senior officials were also present in the meeting.
During the meeting, the planning minster set up two special committees to carry forward Prime Minister’s Vision of equitable development in under privileged parts of Balochistan
The minister headed a meeting of ten various government ministries and tasked them to prepare a programme on fast track basis for development of Gwadar and Balochistan, particularly, southern Balochistan. This special initiative for South Balochistan is being taken up on the directives of the PM who wants urgent and tangible steps taken on priority to bring this under developed part of Pakistan to a higher level of development.
Asad Umar constituted two committees. One committee will be chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jehanzeb Khan and the second committee will be co-chaired by Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi and Commerce Advisor Razak Dawood.
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammed Jehanzeb Khan-led committee would make a plan for the development of Balochistan to improve service delivery in areas of water resources, roads, agriculture, tourism, energy and infrastructure. While the second committee headed by the Minister and Advisor’s committee will work out a plan for Gwadar development.
The planning minister assured the provincial government that his ministry would releases money for development projects. He also said that any plan made for the betterment of Balochistan will be finalized with prior consultation of all the stakeholders of the province. It is vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to provide better information technology and energy facilities to the people of Balochistan and giving priority to the weakest segment/areas of the country, said Asad Umar.
In this fiscal year, the federal and provincial governments would spend cumulatively Rs200 billion on the development of Balochistan. An amount of Rs118 billion will be spent under Annual Development Plan by the provincial government and Rs82 billion under Public Sector Development Programme.