Balochistan advised to find new income sources

The government of Balochistan must find new and dependable sources of income to get rid of dependence on federal divisible pool for meeting its financial needs.
Balochistan Economic Forum (BEF), a private sector organisation, which has played an important role in attracting foreign investments into the province, gave this advice to the government of Balochistan on Wednesday on the eve of the provincial budget presentation in the Assembly on June 21.
The BEF said: "When the federal government's revenue collection was shrinking, due to the persistent pressure of the private sector for more and more incentives, the provincial government (of Balochistan) would have to find alternative sources to meet the growing needs of the socio-economic development in the province."
In a handy document containing suggestions, it said that with the rapidly changing economic scenario of the country, it would be difficult for the government to collect sufficient revenue through the old methods of revenue collection.
It was, therefore, necessary that Balochistan government widened its revenue base by encouraging direct foreign investments into the province and seeking international economic aid agencies' and multilateral institution's support for the socio-economic development of the province, with the cooperation of the federal government.
It said that the political leadership in Balochistan should strongly support foreign direct investment and, more importantly, also ensure that the message is reflected in the bureaucratic policies and procedures. The foreign investors would happily invest in Balochistan, provided they were reciprocated with the same business-like cooperation based on good bargains and prudent investments.
Foreign investors, who were willing to invest in Balochistan, were giving less importance to the extraordinary incentives offered to them. Instead, they found high returns, due to cheap labour and raw material available in the province, quite attractive.
The BEF said that all incentives and planning for industrialisation in the province was based on incentives and tax relief provided by the federal government for a certain period. In the case of Balochistan, the industrialists rolled off their units when the period of relief in taxation was over. The government should, therefore, mobilise all its energies and resources to gear up the industrialisation process in the province in order to cope with the existing economic problems.
"Active and aggressive private sector development is one opportunity of enormous importance to Balochistan in particular for accomplishment of economic development in the province. Provincial government should take appropriate steps on priority basis for the exploitation of natural resources, as the delay in effective use of resources will keep industrial activities in Balochistan at low profile."
Investment scenario in Balochistan, the BEF said, was bright because of foreign investors' interest in economic exploitation of abundant resources in mineral, fisheries, agriculture & livestock sectors, and the province could develop into a major trading and business centre, as its potential is now widely understood. It received more attention with the establishment of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) as Balochistan provides a gateway to all ECO member countries, the BEF added.
In the opinion of BEF, the political leadership of Balochistan will have to wage an economic war on all possible fronts to bring economic and industrial revolution and improve the quality of life in the province. A political and professional initiative on the part of the provincial government at this stage would make it able to prepare sound economic foundation for the province. The need of the hour is to develop the necessary infrastructure with the help of international development and supporting agencies that could help boost the private sector investments in the region and to attract the foreign investors to explore and utilise the natural resources available in the province.
The economic assistance has become very competitive as more and more under-developed countries are approaching concerned institutions for support, as such a very skilled marketing strategy is required even to win over the required economic assistance during the present time, the BEF said.