ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Planning Development and Reforms on Friday expressed ‘serious’ reservation over inclusion of 44 unapproved projects into the public sector development program (PSDP) for the current fiscal year and constituted a sub-committee to probe into the matter.
Agha Durrani, chairman of the senate panel said the unapproved schemes did never appear in the PSDP list presented to senate and its committee. He was addressing a meeting.
Senate panel chairman said the committee, during its meetings on PSDP proposals, was assured that new projects that came under provincial domain and unapproved projects would not be included in the federal PSDP. The committee was further assured that projects, which were to be funded by sustainable development goals, would not be funded from the PSDP.
“Despite all these assurances, 44 unapproved projects were included in the new PSDP book and which were never presented in the senate,” he added. “Such inclusion of projects in PSDP is unconstitutional.” Leader of the House Shibli Faraz also expressed concern over the procedure adopted for finalisation of the projects.
Senate panel chairman constituted the sub-committee, comprising of senators Mir Kabeer Muhammad Shahi, Rukhsana Zuberi and Hidayatullah to probe the matter.
The committee further asked the Alternative Energy Development Board to share with it draft of the energy policy 2019 to take its input and also asked for an ‘extensive’ briefing on what incentives are being provided to investors for renewable energy sector and how the current policy would be different from the new one.
Durrani said the committee directed the officials in the last meeting to make the new draft investor-friendly for businesses as well as overseas Pakistanis.
Faraz said renewable energy is being discouraged by design and many people who came to invest in the sector are going away again. There is a strong lobby that is active and doesn’t want their businesses to be affected. Investors have to be incentivised, he added.
The committee was further apprised of flaws in the alignment and distribution challenges in the K-IV water project highlighted by consultants.
The committee was told that K-I, K-II, and K-III also need some optimisation in addition to realignment of K-IV project. It was told that the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) would submit a report on technical and economic feasibility of K-IV project to the government of Sindh within two months. Subsequently, a joint technical review committee would review and assess the Nespak report. The committee said the terms of reference of the joint committee should be shared with it. Senate panel chairman directed the ministry of planning to investigate into the delays and irregularities in K-IV project and penalise the responsible people.
The committee was further told that feasibility study on water table situation would be completed by March 2020 and then a work plan would be formulated.
The senate committee on planning said tube wells in Balochistan should be converted to solar as they are heavily subsidised. The committee decided to call a joint meeting of power and planning ministries and government of Balochistan to discuss the matter and recommend solutions.
The committee was briefed about necessary facilities of fresh water treatment, water supply and distribution system in Gwadar. Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) Director General said the current daily demand of the city stands at 7.48 million of gallons per day (MGD) and supply is 2.5 MGD. With completion of Shadi Kour Dam transmission line, the city would get additional 5 MGD. Distribution network to supply water at home is still not in place and the infrastructure, which was to be established in phase 3 of the project, would have to start instantly, the official said. The committee appreciated GDA for timely completion of phase-I and the progress of phase-II of Gwadar drinking water supply scheme. The GDA was asked to submit a revised PC-I of the phase-III to the Planning Commission and the senate committee within 10 days and asked the ministry of planning to prioritise its funding to expedite work on the project.
