By NNN-APP
Islamabad : Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said as logistics capability provides the backbone to any economy, US$ 6 to 7 billion will be spent on infrastructure development in Pakistan during the next five years. He said the government has adopted a futuristic approach and it is focusing on strengthening the infrastructure according to the future needs to maintain the momentum of growth.
This year the federal government will spend Rs. 60 billion on infrastructure development and transportation, he said and added the amount spent by the provincial governments in these sectors will be in addition to this.
The Prime Minister was chairing a meeting in his chamber at the Parliament House this evening to review the steps required to improve the logistics chain in the country.
He said that under the National Trade Corridor (NTC) Plan the government is focusing on improving the end to end logistics chain to improve productivity and competitiveness of industrial sector.
Under NTC, the Prime Minister said improvements are being made in the system of railways, roads and highways. Processes at the ports, airports and land borders have been simplified to reduce the clearance time, he added.
The completion of NTC Plan and building of North South Corridor will remove the road blocks to our industrial development and trade enhancement, he added.
“We want to jump the curve and do the right things rightly to improve our productivity and competitiveness�, the Prime Minister said.
The meeting decided that Planning Commission and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will jointly prepare a strategic framework to improve the business enabling infrastructure in Pakistan.
Planning Commission will coordinate with all related departments to prepare the framework.
The study that will be carried by a world class consulting firm will focus on determining the future growth requirements in Pakistan.
It will be completed within a year and will have five stages; assessing the current situation, setting growth priorities, critical enablers and alignments to NTC, syndication and stakeholders’ management, implementation, planning and institutionalization.
The Prime Minister said the initiative is of immense strategic importance as it will determine the future growth of the country.
He added that the initiative is well timed and the first essential step to operationalise the vision 2030 approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) in its meeting held on May 31, 2007.
The study, the Prime Minister said, will help in materializing the government’s plans to build trade, transportation, energy and industrial corridors between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Central Asian States.
The strengthened infrastructure, the Prime Minister added will result in bringing qualitative change in the services and industrial sector and more economic opportunities, employment generated as a result will contribute to the overall economic uplift.
The Prime Minister said the Coastal Highway and Indus Highway are some of good examples of economic transformation brought about by development of highways as their completion brought significant improvement in the life of people living around these highways.
ADB Country Director, Peter L. Fedon said in view of the high growth of Pakistan it is important to evaluate the future growth demands of Pakistan and take steps for infrastructure strengthening so that the process is not choked.
He said the strategic framework to be jointly prepared by ADB and Pakistan government will focus on improving the competitive advantage of Pakistan.
It will identify steps to bring improvements in terms of competitiveness and optimal utilization of resources, he added.
The meeting was attended among others by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Salman Shah, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr. M. Akram Sheikh and senior officials.