PAC points to loopholes in PSDP mechanism

Khursheed Shah says ill planning, delayed approval and uneven release of funds cause wastage of public money

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday told the ministries of Finance and Planning and Development to plug loopholes in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) mechanism to save wastage of public money.

The PAC met here to discuss delays in development projects under Syed Khursheed Shah, the Leader of the House in National Assembly.

Representatives of both the ministries appeared to be clueless on issues raised by members of the committee.

“Ill planning, delayed approval and uneven releases against the PSDP, besides non-prioritisation of projects cause wastage of public money,” said Shah.



Responding to a question raised by the Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Azra Fazal Pechuho, the secretary planning said that they released funds in accordance with requirements of the projects.

“Your entire budgetary plan is flawed. On the one hand, funds are released all of a sudden just before the end of the fiscal year, but at the same time surrender of funds is demanded before May 15,” said Shah, adding that this was not how things should work. “This made the whole process convoluted,” he said.

Shah and Fazal wondered why release of funds was not even and why higher funding was not made in the first two quarters of the fiscal year for work to proceed smoothly on the projects.

An official of the finance ministry said that they released 20 per cent of funds each in first two quarters and then 30 per cent each in the second and third quarters.

When the secretary planning said that funding during initial months of the fiscal year was slow, he said that the release mechanism should be revised.

Officials were unable to respond in a satisfactory manner when MNA Junaid Anwaar asked why the funds for development projects either lapsed or were surrendered by ministries.

“Can’t this be changed when it is known that the project will continue in the next fiscal year,” he asked to which the secretary finance stated that this was a constitutional provision.

The chairperson of the committee suggested that the provision should be changed as most of the money was wasted at the level of the ministries of Finance and Planning and Development.

MNA Sardar Ashiq Gopang, from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also asked what percentage of the allocation was released against the total cost of projects.

The secretary finance replied that in May this year, the federal cabinet had approved 20 to 25 per cent as initial funding.



“This is good… because in the past there used to be five and 10 per cent release of the total cost of projects,” Gopang commented.

Shah also asked officials that if they faced any problems, they should share them with the PAC.

Apparently, he was sensing reluctance on the part of the bureaucrats to express their views on various issues.

Shah also asked the secretary planning to share details of all new, ongoing and delayed projects to which the latter sought a month’s time. “Collecting detailed data will take time,” he said.

Shah also told officials to support their data on projects with pictures, adding that no further delays would be tolerated.