Even after the lapse of 21 months, the Finance Ministry still finds itself handicapped to implement in letter and spirit the federal cabinet’s roadmap for the reorganisation of boards of directors of public sector enterprises (PSEs) and the appointment of professional managements, approved on March 10, 2010.
The federal cabinet in its meeting on Wednesday (today) in Peshawar will be getting a detailed briefing on the implementation status of its decisions pertaining to the Finance Division. A summary prepared by the Cabinet Division says the federal cabinet met 98 times since March 2008, in which 114 decisions pertaining to the Finance Division were made out of which 100 decisions were implemented, while 14 were still under implementation. The Finance Division has failed to restructure the managements of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Railways, National Highways Authority, PASSCO and Utility Stores Corporation, among others. According to the summary prepared for the cabinet meeting scheduled for today, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, the cabinet on March 10, 2010 approved the proposed roadmap for reorganisation of the boards of directors of the identified PSEs as independent forums, which shall recommend the appointment of professional chief executive officers (CEOs).
On the status of implementation, the Finance Ministry has told the cabinet that it has recommended that the Railways Order 1962 will be amended for reconstitution of Railways Board by the federal government and the board shall be represented by all four provinces beside professionals from the private sector and railways experts.
The document says the proposal to finalise the power sector reforms plan and the appointment of CEOs for CPPA and GENCOs is under process. The proposal for reconstitution of board of directors of PIA, in the light of guidelines of Cabinet Committee on Reconstruction (CCOR), is still awaited from the Defence Ministry, the document says. It adds that the National Highways Authority has limitation under the Act 1991 (as amended in 2001) for changing its board of directors. “The required amendments in the Act are being processed. CCOR in its meeting held on May 27, 2011 authorised Chairmen of USC and PASSCO to finalise proposals for reconstruction of BODs,” the summary says.
On the status of implementation of another one of the cabinet’s decisions taken on December 30, 2009 regarding forming a cabinet committee comprising the ministers of finance, interior, overseas Pakistanis and the Sindh chief minister to look into loss of traders in the Ashura tragedy in Karachi, the cabinet has been informed in the summary that the Sindh chief secretary has been asked to detail the latest situation. On April 21, 2010, the cabinet approved in principle legislation of the Credit Bureau Act 2010 subject to vetting and inputs from the Law Ministry. The cabinet has been told by the Finance Ministry higher-ups that consultations are underway with the Law Ministry and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the proposed bill has not been finalised yet. On May 26, 2010, the cabinet approved in principle the draft Pakistan Savings Bill 2010 subject to improvement and input by the ministers for law and finance. The cabinet has been told by the Finance Ministry that the draft bill is awaiting Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh’s nod.
On the cabinet’s decision taken on November 2, 2011 regarding its advice to the finance minister and Planning Commission deputy chairman to review the pace of construction of small dams in Balochistan, the cabinet has been informed that so far funds have not been released for Winder Dam, Naulong Dam, Hingol Dam and Pelar Storage Dam. On the cabinet’s decision dated June 15, 2011 to release funds to Pakistan Railways, the cabinet has been informed by the Finance Ministry that Rs 9.977 billion have been released to Pakistan Railways out of a total allocated sum of Rs 25 billion.
