The developmental projects have become a bone of contention between the newly formed government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) and the former government of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). There is a significant reduction in the developmental budget by the new government, which has also formed very ambitious plans of its own. The problem at hand right now is the release of funds for the projects which were set up by the last government. These projects have reached fifty percent completion but due to the electoral process, the contractors refused to continue work because of lack of funds.
This problem is not unique to the political set up of Pakistan. Successive governments have relied heavily upon the next government to take charge of the projects that they set up. However the situation has not always turned out to be in their favour because the new government was planning to initiate some other project. This has left many projects without any supervisory body ensuring its completion. The government of PTI, though new, must deal with challenges like these, and in a manner that makes the system more efficient. Governments introduce policies that either last during their tenure or have no future once a new government is in place.
Projects which have been launched previously, as confirmed by former PTI MPA Arif Abbasi, will certainly be taken up by the new government. However, the demand they have for this condition is that regular checkpoints are established for the government to know the progress and pace of the work. This is a fair demand by the government and all parties involved must cooperate to the best of their capacity. At the same time, an official stance has not been put forth by the new government. Without a proper channel of communication, avoiding the blame game would help resolve the matter greatly from both sides.
A major takeaway from the emergence of a problem like this is to devise a policy which looks into the framework of projects which materialise over the span of several years. This means that the new government has to take charge and also be responsible if a problem emerges. In this case, lawmakers must have a clear framework on whom to hold accountable and also the conditions under which projects can be taken up. Pakistan has suffered endlessly because of lack of visionary policies and the newly formed government has the opportunity to set a precedent which will impact Pakistan’s outlook for the years to come.