Planned reforms: Govt to launch Strategic Partnership Development Framework next month

Goals include 500% increase in energy generation, creation of 200,000 new jobs and reducing poverty.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government will launch a Strategic Partnership Development Framework (SPDF) – designed to address the basic needs of the people – in the first week of October.

According to a handout issued by the Information Department on Tuesday, a meeting was held in this regard at the Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad and was attended by heads of K-P’s development partners including the World Bank, USAID, Asian Development Bank and the European Union.

The handout stated some of the goals of the SPDF include 500% increase in energy generation, creation of 200,000 new jobs and reducing poverty by one-fourth by 2018.



K-P Planning Department’s Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Parvez and Chief Economist Shahab Ali Shah briefed the participants on the SPDF programme, its formulation, set goals and expectations.

The meeting was a part of the consultative process held to take everyone on board before the development process is initiated, Parvez told the participants, adding the input received from donors will be properly adjusted in the final draft of the framework.

Parvez said the initial SPDF draft presented in the meeting had been prepared in consultation with local stakeholders, donors and development partners. The coalition partners in the government have also backed it, he added.

“Once [the draft] is finalised, it will be shared with these partners again in the first week of October,” read the statement. “The framework provides for a simplified process of dispute resolution to ensure peace building and rule of law in the province, along with addressing the achieving of millennium development goals.”

On the occasion, representatives of international donor bodies appreciated the initiatives and assured the provincial government of full cooperation in strengthening their partnership.

Finance Department Additional Chief Secretary Syed Said Badshah Bukhari, Power Secretary Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad, industries secretary, education secretary and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.

The handout stated a Reforms Implementation Cell has been established at the office of the provincial chief secretary to implement the government’s ambitious reform agenda.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2013.