Two men travelling in a hot-air balloon got adrift and were unaware of their precise location on the map. As they passed a small town, they saw a man working in the nearby fields and asked him, “Where are we?” The man had a few seconds to reply quickly as the balloon drifted ahead in the wind. “You’re in the balloon”, he shouted up to the two men.
Logically, he gave the correct answer. Yes, they were in the balloon alright but none the wiser about the information they needed so badly. Marketplace indices give valuable information for the economic planners to chalk out growth patterns for the national economy. But a small bit of information left out can spell the difference between success or otherwise. The constitutional mess that Pakistan has been since 1948, but after the restoration of the 1973 constitution to its original shape there was a strong feeling in the air that the serious task of nation-building would begin in real earnest. Instead, the governance of the economy has been a disappointment and it desires a lot of improvement.
Since independence there have been only a few big projects that have lifted themselves from the drawing-boards to become a reality. Mangla and Tarbela Dams were the outcome of the Indus Water Treaty but all gains, for the then fifth largest country of the world, were thrown to the winds in the wake of fruitless adventurism of the post-1964 elections era. Again, it is nothing short of a miracle that Pakistan Steel Mills ever got completed in the mid-eighties. Just when the trial production was barely a year away, the self-appointed president of the country expressed his desire to get rid of the ‘white elephant’. He needed the money to carry forward his personal agenda and drive the country in to an economic mess. It was with great difficulty, and after deliberations and advice of a committee so constituted to look in to the issue, the project was salvaged from total annihilation. It seems we have not yet stepped forward from the Steel Mill imbroglio as it was again at the center of a controversy which brought a regime change. New projects like building of dams, all dams, essential uplifting of deteriorating smaller and big towns and rural infrastructure, should immediately begin instead of making a quick buck by selling a national asset.
This country needs mega projects to fire national imagination to build a modern state. About two decades ago Mahatir gave the year 2020 target of attaining the status of a fully developed economy. Malaysia is well on its way. Only worthwhile projects can lift up the economy. The motorway project temporarily provided the necessary fillip for the economy but all gains were again lost in the aftermath of the foreign currency ‘freeze’ and its adverse effects on the national economy. The need of the times is to think about the real challenges of initiating economic activity that can provide employment to nearly two million young men and women entering the marketplace every year. The down-stream industries would benefit tremendously from the projects worked out according to the scale and demands of the economy. Two great systems to boost agriculture economy began in the world at almost the same time, Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA, project in the US and the five-river systems of water canals and distribution in what is now Pakistan. TVA has a special place in American history and its economic development. The great system of irrigation this country has and other resources should not be just thrown to the winds while we are fighting out our petty differences in the streets. National resources in the four provinces and in the northern areas are available in abundance if we can put them to their appropriate and rightful use as the economy demands. The macabre dance of dark forces in the southern city, which is the economic hub of trade and commerce in the country, can immediately come to a halt if we can deal squarely with the economic issues facing the national and world economy and the necessary steps required for us to be taken.
The writer has served as consultant to the United Nations and other developing economies on the issue of trade and development and can be reached at amjadriazzz@yahoo.com