ISLAMABAD - The meeting of the Annual Planning Coordination Committee has been postponed for the 3rd time in a span of less than a week as the ministry of planning has yet to finalize working paper for the proposed PSDP and Annual Plan 2019-20, it was learnt reliably here.
To finalize the PSDP and Annual Plan 2019-20, the meeting of the Annual Planning Coordination Committee, which was due on May 20, has been postponed and now will be held on May 23, official sources told The Nation here Wednesday.
The meeting, to be chaired by the Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, who is also deputy chairman Planning Commission, will review Annual Plan 2018-19 and also the proposed annual plan for the next fiscal. The meeting will also review Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2018-19 and also the proposed PSDP for the fiscal 2019-20, said the source.
When asked about the new postponement of the APPC meeting, the source said that the high ups of the ministry of planning are so busy in other works to get a presentation on the PSDP and Annual Plan. The working paper cannot be finalized prior to the presentation to the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and since it was not ready therefore the meeting was not ready and the meeting has been postponed, said the source. The APCC is being dealt casually by the incumbent government and therefore the officials in the ministry of planning, dealing with the PSDP, are unclear about the government direction regarding developmental agenda, said the source. The high ups are required to spare a day or half to listen to the presentation on PSDP and Annual Plan and after that the working paper will be finalized, said the source. The ministry of planning seems more interested in the approval of the new projects instead of finalization of the PSDP for next year. “During previous government of PML we used to work day and night for the preparation of PSDP but this time the government doesn’t seem serious about the PSDP and it seems development is secondary matter for the government,” the source said.
Planning ministry has yet to finalise working paper for proposed PSDP, Annual Plan 2019-20
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier the meeting of the National Accounts Committee (NAC) was scheduled for May 6 however the tentative date for the meeting of the Annual Planning Coordination Committee (APCC) was May 8 or 9. However later the meeting of the NAC was shifted from May 6 to May 9 and the meeting of APCC was rescheduled for May 13.
The meeting was postponed and was rescheduled for May 20th, said the source. However now once again it has been rescheduled for May 23, said the source.
The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) will be attended by ministers for planning from the provinces and special areas like Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The meeting will approve overall indicative development budget for Federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and provincial Annual Development Plan(ADP). Official source said that the planning ministry was demanding of at least Rs 700 billion allocations for the next year PSDP. However Finance division wants the allocation of Rs 675 billion with the condition that Rs 127 billion of block allocations will be under the control of the finance division. The block allocations are related to TDPs and security enhancement, Prime Minister special programs and Disaster Management. The actual developmental portfolio will be around Rs 548 billion. The recommendations of the APCC regarding PSDP and ADP will then be forwarded to the National Economic Council (NEC) for final approval.
