Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reform Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar on Friday said 12th Five Year Plan had extensively covered growth, macro stability, expand agriculture production, galvanize agro-business potential, industry and export competitiveness, human resource development, integrated energy planning, infrastructure development, social safety nets, poverty reduction, achieving SDGs and administrative reforms along-with focus on less developed areas, climate change and environment.
The Minister was chairing a briefing to Economic Advisory Council on draft of 12th Five Year Plan here at Islamabad today. Advisor to PM on Commerce & Industry Abdul Razzak Dawood, members Economic Advisory Council, Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, Secretary BISP Ali Raza Bhutta, Chief Economist Ejaz Wasti, Members Planning Commission and senior officials of all sections of the ministry were present during the briefing.
Makhdum Khusro said that it has been decided to conduct quarterly reviews of the plan at the Ministry and bi-annual reviews will be made by the Prime Minister for its effective implementation in achieving all the set targets. He stated that priority will be given to projects related to infrastructure development, transport, housing, communication, and energy and water sector.
The Minister said that development strategy also entails boosting the country’s exports as well as envisages a mechanism to monitor the progress of ongoing projects. He added that the Plan aims at improving productivity of all sectors of the economy. He said that the Government was committed to ensure timely completion of all ongoing projects without any cost escalation. Makhdum Khusro appreciated the macroeconomic framework prepared by the Planning Commission.
The Plan envisages an average growth of GDP at 5.4%. The expected outlay of the Plan will be Rs11.750 trillion including Rs1.0 trillion involving innovative financing through public-private partnership.
Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan said that Plan document has been prepared through extensive consultative process involving dialogue with stakeholders, formal consultation with the members of different working groups formulated for different sectors. So far more than thirty sessions have been held with stakeholders for preparing the draft of the next Plan. He apprised that after taking the inputs and suggestions from the members of the Economic Advisory Council, the Plan will be placed before National Economic Council for consideration and approval.
Published in Daily Times, February 23rd 2019.
