Dagha possesses varied experience

ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Younus Dagha, who was appointed as the Federal Finance Secretary on Wednesday, possesses varied experience in the fields of energy, finance, commerce, international trade and public administration.

He is a career civil servant and joined the government in 1985. He had served as the deputy commissioner of Sanghar, Khairpur, Mansehra and Malir. He had also worked as the director, immigration and passport, and additional secretary of external finance. He established a state-of-the-art hospital in Khairpur and handed it over to the Red Crescent Society.

Dagha, belonging to a business family, holds post graduate degrees in Business Administration, Economics, Law and Commerce and is equipped him with academic background to manage multifaceted assignments in his career.

His profile said that during his career, he accomplished challenging assignments. From being an administrator at various tiers in the provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to project director in mega projects, he has a vast and varied experience. He was assigned the challenging task of bringing Pakistan’s unutilised energy treasure in the Thar coalfields to fruition – an immense natural resource with a potential of 175 billion tons of lignite coal - which till then had become an abject failure.

As per his profile, Dagha conceived and executed a plan to bring back the local and international investors’ interest in the development of the Thar coalfield. The JV between the Sindh government and Engro, known as Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company, is now set to become the largest public private partnership company in Pakistan.

According to his profile, as Sindh’s investment secretary, he facilitated numerous wind energy projects in Jhampir-Gharo Wind Corridor which are now fast reaching their execution stage. Similarly, during his stay in Gilgit-Baltistan as chief secretary, he played a vital role in facilitating land acquisition and resettlement process which is at a final stage now.

Dagha was made the water and power federal secretary on Oct 17, 2014 at a difficult juncture when the power sector was facing multiple crises. Power outages, especially in the industrial sector, were taking a toll on the economy, causing frequent protests. The inter-corporate (circular) debt in the sector was continuously mounting at a fast pace every month; the generation had retarded due to drying cash flow and no new investments were forthcoming under serious doubts over sector’s capacity to pay.

The ensuing year 2015 became a game changer for the power sector. Benefitting from the assiduous management, effective monitoring and better financial controls brought in by Dagha, the power sector witnessed a turnaround. The investors, especially under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), were provided with the required policy incentives and facilitation to ensure timely initiation of the new generation and transmission projects. The result was that 2015 became the best performance year for the power sector not only in Pakistan’s history but in the entire region.

His profile said Pakistan’s exports were in continuous decline for the last three years and a balance of payment crisis seemed imminent when Dagha was appointed as the commerce secretary in April 2017 to salvage the grim situation. On assuming charge, he chalked out an elaborate reform agenda for the Commerce Ministry and its attached organisations. Ranging from governance reforms to policy, institutional and commercial diplomacy, all critical facets affecting the performance of the ministry were revamped.

In a short span of nine months Dagha was able to secure and implement the Prime Minister Export Enhancement Package to the tune of Rs180 billion for supporting the export industry. On the policy side, his achievements include: rationalisation of imports, effective enforcement of SPS standards, simplification of procedures, formulation of e-commerce framework and preparation of five-year Strategic Trade Policy Framework to provide a long-term predictable regime.

As per his profile, Dagha’s accomplishments in the area of commercial diplomacy include successful midterm review of GSP plus, launching of ‘Look Africa Plan’ market access strategy for South American region, unilateral expansion of Indonesia-Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement to include Pakistan’s priority export products, breaking the deadlock of long-stalled negotiations on 2nd Phase of Pakistan China Free Trade Agreement and putting in place a robust monitoring mechanism to evaluate performance of the trade officers posted abroad.