According to media reports, the federal government has cut the budget for 400 development schemes partly to fund the projects in the political constituencies and partly to save money for the general elections. The decision will spare at least Rs 200 billion at the cost of 175 new and 217 ongoing schemes. Apart from this, the Ministry of Finance has also notified a cut of 10 percent in the development expenditures of all federal ministries. Experts believe the decision will consume the entire budget of the second half of the current fiscal year as well as will increase the cost 392 schemes when the same will be re-launched next year. Several dozen approved, unapproved and ongoing schemes of the Public Sector Development Programme will also face cut in the financing. This is the classic example of mismanagement and administrative failure in this country where the leaders love to make photo sessions and install plaques of inauguration for the development projects the most of which are abandoned half way. There is no one to be held accountable for the loss of the public money and the planners of the unfinished projects and schemes have never been identified.
As hundreds of development schemes are already at the verge of collapse, another 220 new proposals and projects are in the pipeline and are awaiting approvals from the competent authorities. It appears the policymakers have no capacity to look into the future and it will be a matter of self-description to expect that they would be able to make long term policies for the nation. It is not a secret that thousands of development schemes launched by the Pakistan People’s Party government under People’s Works Programme were abandoned by the PML-N government back in 1990s. And the PPP government did the same with the PML-N schemes during its tenure in the office. There is only one solution to all these woes and that is to depoliticize the government departments. There is a need to make legislation to rid the political interference in the official business. The state should continue to function on its own without caring which political party is governing the country. The political parties, while sitting on the opposition benches, should hire experts and technocrats to do homework and serve the nation in better way after coming to power.
