Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani expressed his concern over the slow pace of utilisation of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) financing facility of $2.9 billion for 22 projects, mainly in energy and highway sectors.
He stated this during a briefing by the Economic Affairs Division here at the PM House on Thursday. The prime minister directed the Economic Affairs Division to hold meetings every month instead of three months to remove snags, if any, in undertaking development projects financed by the ADB.
It would be appropriate to address the issues pertaining to the projects prior to negotiating funding with the international agencies instead of the other way round, he said.
Gilani said that under-utilisation of foreign funding would be treated as criminal negligence of the ministries. He directed that monitoring of the projects should be an integral part of it in order to determine the level of negligence and also to know the pace of completion of projects.
The prime minister said it was inexcusable that projects in energy and infrastructure were delayed for which credit facility was already there. He said energy and good highways are basic requirements for generating economic activities to put the country on the path to progress and prosperity. The projects in these vital sectors should be pursued with requisite dedication and commitment, he added.
Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said rationalisation and prioritisation of the projects should be the fundamental principle in the development strategy, adding that taking up of too many projects at the same time must be avoided for the same reason.
Secretary Finance, Dr Waqar Masood Khan pointed out that the ‘commitment charges’ by the government of Pakistan due to delay in utilisation of funds had led to net export of capital from the country causing big losses to national exchequer.
Secretary Water and Power, Imtiaz Hussain Qazi informed the meeting that the reasons for slow pace of utilisation of funds in energy sector had been addressed and therefore it would pick up substantially in the near future.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2011.
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