Punjab Economic Forum 2017: Corruption, incompetence have devastated Pakistan: CM
Shehbaz blames all segments of ruling elite for economic downturn.
Shehbaz Sharif speaks at the inaugural session of the Punjab Economic Forum at a hotel in Lahore. PHOTO: NNI
LAHORE:
Corruption, incompetence and professional ineptitude have devastated Pakistan and the heinous role played by the elite during the past 70 years is in front of everyone, said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.
While speaking at inaugural session of the Punjab Economic Forum on Monday, he blamed all segments of the ruling elite, including political parties, bureaucracy and military rulers for the downturn of Pakistan, which, he claimed, was once way ahead from the regional economies.
“It is no use crying over spilt milk but we should learn from our mistakes and move forward instead of creating more distress for an already worried nation,” Shehbaz added.
Smart technology: Punjab project to revamp agriculture
In 1979, he said, Pakistan’s per capita income was more than China. Now the neighbouring country has left Pakistan miles behind in terms of economic growth. “We are extremely happy what China has achieved, but we are not in any competition with them. In fact, we are in a consultative and corporative mode as they are in a world-class position,” he added.
“We have potential to overcome political, military and geographical setbacks faced in these 70 years but we are facing issues like transparency, corruption and lack of human resource management.”
Talking about different projects started in his tenure, the CM said there were good and bad examples available within Punjab where one project heading towards success was stopped because of embezzlements within the same model followed by the provincial government.
“We have introduced a corporate management style in pursuing and successfully completing different energy projects. We saved Rs112 billion due to transparent bidding that can now be spent on some other development programmes,” he claimed.
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Similarly in the Lahore Metro Train’s Orange Line project, the Punjab government allowed the Chinese companies to bid despite the fact that there was no compulsion in Pakistan’s law to force any foreign company to bid for any particular project initiated at the government level.
“We not only compelled a Chinese company to bid for the project but also asked them to lower the cost of the project from $2.12 billion to $1.46 billion, thereby saving about Rs75 billion,” Shehbaz boasted.
However, he pointed out that corrupt elements still made their ways through successful models. “In the Saaf Pani project, we found embezzlements of Rs80 billion despite adopting the same procedures and company structure,” he admitted.
Replying to the economists’ concerns of rising public debt, the CM said that sometimes it was not the debt but corruption that increased the cost of any project.“Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a prime example,” he pointed out.
“The then president inaugurated the dam ahead of the 2008 elections, but now we found that no land was purchased by the government and the groundbreaking ceremony of Pakistan’s largest hydropower project was just an election gimmick.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2017.
Corruption, incompetence and professional ineptitude have devastated Pakistan and the heinous role played by the elite during the past 70 years is in front of everyone, said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.
While speaking at inaugural session of the Punjab Economic Forum on Monday, he blamed all segments of the ruling elite, including political parties, bureaucracy and military rulers for the downturn of Pakistan, which, he claimed, was once way ahead from the regional economies.
“It is no use crying over spilt milk but we should learn from our mistakes and move forward instead of creating more distress for an already worried nation,” Shehbaz added.
Smart technology: Punjab project to revamp agriculture
In 1979, he said, Pakistan’s per capita income was more than China. Now the neighbouring country has left Pakistan miles behind in terms of economic growth. “We are extremely happy what China has achieved, but we are not in any competition with them. In fact, we are in a consultative and corporative mode as they are in a world-class position,” he added.
“We have potential to overcome political, military and geographical setbacks faced in these 70 years but we are facing issues like transparency, corruption and lack of human resource management.”
Talking about different projects started in his tenure, the CM said there were good and bad examples available within Punjab where one project heading towards success was stopped because of embezzlements within the same model followed by the provincial government.
“We have introduced a corporate management style in pursuing and successfully completing different energy projects. We saved Rs112 billion due to transparent bidding that can now be spent on some other development programmes,” he claimed.
Joining forces: Punjab, Tatarstan agree to boost business ties
Similarly in the Lahore Metro Train’s Orange Line project, the Punjab government allowed the Chinese companies to bid despite the fact that there was no compulsion in Pakistan’s law to force any foreign company to bid for any particular project initiated at the government level.
“We not only compelled a Chinese company to bid for the project but also asked them to lower the cost of the project from $2.12 billion to $1.46 billion, thereby saving about Rs75 billion,” Shehbaz boasted.
However, he pointed out that corrupt elements still made their ways through successful models. “In the Saaf Pani project, we found embezzlements of Rs80 billion despite adopting the same procedures and company structure,” he admitted.
Replying to the economists’ concerns of rising public debt, the CM said that sometimes it was not the debt but corruption that increased the cost of any project.“Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a prime example,” he pointed out.
“The then president inaugurated the dam ahead of the 2008 elections, but now we found that no land was purchased by the government and the groundbreaking ceremony of Pakistan’s largest hydropower project was just an election gimmick.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2017.