43% of foreign-funded projects are ‘ambiguous’

The Ministry of Economic Affairs reported last Thursday that 43% of the approximately $35 billion in foreign-funded projects were problematic – either not advancing well or not being able to produce the expected goals.

At a meeting of the National Coordination Committee, the ministry revealed it was handling a $34.8 billion portfolio of current projects from diverse sectors of the economy that were supported by foreign authorities.

An additional $15 billion (43 percent) of the portfolio was identified as “problematic.”

There was also an official declaration stating that $2.3 billion (nearly 70 percent) of federal energy projects are evaluated as unsuitable.

That the energy sector is developing as a threat to the country’s stability is understandable, as one official said when pointing to the electricity sector’s losses of over 17% and short recoveries of 10% and the natural gas industry’s losses of 10%-17%.

At the conference, which was also attended by ministers and members of provincial governments and implementation agencies, the Minister of Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq presided.

Considering the importance of energy projects and the ripple effects they have on the economy and the population at large, the minister expressed his disappointment at the current state of affairs. In order to keep the industrial and commercial activity going, energy was a critical input, but one that was becoming increasingly difficult to come by.

He emphasised the urgency of tackling problematic projects, especially those that have been plagued by chronic delays, in order to expedite payments and progress on these critical projects.

A decision was made at the conference to establish milestones and deliverables with deadlines for the focal ministries and implementing agencies in order to better monitor and prevent overruns in terms of both time and money.

For the sake of timely settlement of concerns, Economic Affairs Secretary Mian Asad Hayauddin advocated regular monthly meetings between the focus ministries and the executing agencies and stakeholders.