Hafeez spares Balochistan, AJK, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Friday directed the Planning Commission not to reduce PSDP allocations for Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

He further directed the Planning Commission to maintain sectoral priorities while reducing allocations. He further stressed that efforts should be made to complete projects on time and in case of delays, reasons should be studied to avoid their future occurrences.

The minister was briefed by Planning Commission on PSDP allocations, its sectoral distribution and how the reduction of Rs 100 billion would affect the development projects. A comprehensive presentation was made by Sohail Ahmed, Secretary Planning and Development Division, along with other senior members of Planning Commission, while Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haq, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Federal Secretary Finance, and Abdul Wajid Rana, Special Secretary Finance, were also present on the occasion.

The secretary planning and development division briefed the finance minister on monitoring and evaluation set-up operationalised in the Planning Commission for public sector development projects. He elucidated that judicious and efficient utilisation of resources, in financial and physical terms, was of utmost importance, particularly in the backdrop of current socio-economic circumstances. Monitoring and evaluation are vital tools that help in streamlining the execution of projects and identify the bottlenecks that hamper smooth, effective and timely implementation of the projects.

The projects wing, constituted within the Planning Commission, is mandated to perform functions: monitoring of development projects/ programmes; evaluation of completed projects to assess their impact on the economy; preparation/ submission of quarterly progress reports to PM Secretariat on strategic projects; analysis of monitoring reports and presentation of findings to the NEC, ECNEC and quarterly review meetings for policy decisions; implementation of policy decisions regarding implementation of projects; and online connectivity through project monitoring evaluation system (PMES).

Source: The NATION