PM Imran approves establishment of Construction and Infrastructure Board

Premier directs ministries to ensure enhanced participation of private sector in uplift schemes Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday approved, in principle, the establishment of Construction and Infrastructure Board which would be instrumental in addressing the issues being faced by the constructors. The prime minister also directed secretary planning to formulate a construction development policy for facilitating all stakeholders, including contractors, clients and consultants. A delegation of Construction Association of Pakistan, headed by Eng. Arshad Dad Khan, called on the prime minister at the PM Office. Minister for Planning Asad Umar was also present during the meeting, PM Office media wing in a press release said. The prime minister observed that the present government was focusing on employing technology and making the processes digital so as to reduce human interface, eliminate corruption and ensure transparency in all business activities. The delegation included Asad Ullah Khan, Eng. Kamal Nasir, Ayub Sheikh, Eng. Attah Ullah Khan, Aftab Siddiqui, Ch. Habib Kanwal, Yaqoob Izhar and Ikram Ch. The delegation appreciated the vision of the prime minister in approving the construction sector as ‘industry’ and the steps being taken by the present government towards meeting the existing demand for low-cost housing in the country. While briefing the prime minister about the issues being faced by the constructors, the delegation proposed various steps to address these issues. These included establishment of construction and infrastructure board, setting up of office of procurement ombudsman, capacity building of local construction industry, revisiting tax regime, review of laws and audit procedures and lack of standardization etc. The prime minister welcomed the suggestions and observed that the present government was committed to provide an enabling environment to the construction industry. Meanwhile, Imran Khan directed the ministries to ensure enhanced participation of the private sector in development projects as the government has limited available resources to carry out development schemes. He was chairing a meeting about expediting economic process and initiating uplift schemes in various sectors with public-private partnership. He said there were various such schemes in energy, infrastructure, tourism, communication and other sectors where the government could expedite the development process and initiate billions of rupees uplift schemes by facilitating the private sector, simplifying the existing laws and implementing ease of doing business. The meeting discussed various policies and existing procedure for initiation of development projects with cooperation of public-private partnership and private sector. The prime minister directed the ministers and chief secretaries to identify such schemes in their respective departments where from just facilitation and simplifying laws, development schemes could be initiated by expending less financial resources. The prime minister directed the ministries to ensure participation of private sector in development projects and review the present laws to provide them all possible facilities and remove existing hindrances on priority basis. The prime minister also called for reviewing the law of public-private partnership so that participation of private sector in development process could be encouraged and facilitated. The prime minister emphasized upon coordination and making further improvement among various ministries and federal, provincial departments to ensure uninterrupted implementation of development schemes. He also highlighted to concentrate on enhancing capacity of the ministries and provincial departments. The meeting was told that the development projects not only accelerate economic process but also provide job opportunities. However, it was further informed that owing to limited resources of the government various important development projects could be implemented. The meeting was told that the government was making all out efforts to promote public-private partnership in uplift schemes by providing all possible facilities to the private sector so that the process of social and economic development was expedited and create job opportunities for the youth. Prime Minister Imran Khan told the meeting that youth were the valuable asset of the country and emphasized upon the need to harness their true potential. He said there was a need to quit the traditional methods and adopt out of box thinking to achieve that goal. The meeting was attended by Minister of Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed, Minister for Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Information Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Minister for National Food Security Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Finance Advisor Dr Abdul Hafiz Shaikh, Trade Advisor Abdur Razak Dawood, Chairman Investment Board Syed Zubair Gilani, Secretaries of respective ministries, provincial chief secretaries, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing Authority Lt.Gen (retd) Anwar Ali Haider and senior officials.