Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said the government was working on a five-year plan to put the country on fast track of economic development, which would be finalised in December this year.
The minister was briefing the media about the Prime Minister’s (PM) decisions, including approval of a plan to restructure the Planning Commission of Pakistan. Ahsan said, “Work on the development plan would be assessed on monthly basis and a report in this regard would be sent to the PM.” He explained that seven important themes were being targeted in the five-year development plan which include energy for all, value addition in productive sector, developing modern infrastructure, initiating institutional and governance reforms for high performance, building social capital, making private sector the driver of growth and building new pillars for self-reliance and high sustainable growth.
The minister said, “The government was also preparing a long-term perspective plan ‘Pakistan 2025’ in order to include Pakistan among the fast growing countries of the region.” He said that the government’s main goal was to make Pakistan a developed country by 2047.
He informed that the Planning Commission would be restructured and made a development think-tank for creating a globally competitive and knowledgeable economy. “The Ministry of Planning and Development will be renamed as the Ministry of Planning and Development Reforms to underscore the agenda of reforms in economic areas and public sector management,” he added.
“The Planning Commission had done no proper work during the last 14 years. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in 1999 made an integrated roadmap for the country’s development by 2010. The aim was to fulfill the energy needs, which at that time was estimated to be 28,000 MW. But after the 1999 military coup, General Musharraf’s government abandoned the plan.”
Highligting the 9/11 incident he said that a lot of foreign aid came to the country and home remittances also went up. “Electricity infrastructure was expanded and new industries were built but nobody focussed on taking steps to increase the power supply.” Because of the limited power generation supply and the escalating demand the country is facing the worst energy crisis, he added.
Furthermore he remarked that the financial and administrative infrastructures did not match the requirements of modern day. “The PM is taking personal interest and has decided to chair the Planning Commission’s meetings twice a year which would help the commission play an active role for the development of the country,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said in order to make the role of Planning Commission more effective, three posts of members had been created and one of them would be hired from the private sector.
The minister informed that he will be meeting with his Chinese counterpart in the first meeting regarding Pak-China economic corridor next month.
