Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has reportedly snubbed Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) for sending a summary to retain corruption-tainted Engineering Development Board (EDB) bypassing federal cabinet's decision of July 13, 2017, well informed sources in the Ministry told Business Recorder.
The cabinet, in its decision had endorsed the decision of Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) of May 29, 2017, in which it was decided to dissolve EDB for rampant corruption. Minister for Industries and Production, Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi agreed with the cabinet decision. However, the Ministry's bureaucracy opposed the move - bureaucracy that is held directly or indirectly responsible for corruption and mismanagement in the organisation run by an influential person with backing from few officials from the Ministry.
Last month, the incumbent Additional Secretary (Incharge), Mian Asad Haya-ud-Din sent a summary to the Prime Minister subsequent to the rejection of the summary by the ECC, with justifications to retain the EDB, that is presently run by acting CEO. The top brass of the Ministry maintain that the CEO is unable to run the organization as per its mandate. However, the Ministry is trying to rehire the "unwanted" person whose case is ongoing in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Additional Secretary (Incharge) also told Business Recorder that he has sought a report about EDB's state of affairs including on an official who also runs an auto sector business and has close ties with the relevant Joint Secretary of the Ministry.
According to Secretary to Prime Minister, Fawad Hasan Fawad, Prime Minister has observed that dissolution of EDB has been ratified by the Federal Cabinet on July 13, 2017 which renders the proposal of Ministry of Industries and Production tantamount to evading the decision of the Federal Cabinet.
The Prime Minister, he said, has directed that if the Ministry of Industries and Production considers retention of the EDB an imperative, it may take the matter back to the Cabinet for reconsideration of its decision of July 13, 2017 with complete justification.
The MoI&P, in its summary to Prime Minister, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, has argued that the Board's pragmatic efforts and solution-based interventions in business plans, effectively countered the mercantilist and myopic lobbying of many pressure groups with vested interests. For the last three decades, the automotive market was dominated by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) members only. With the formulation of the new ADP 2016-21, Pakistan's automotive market is based on an even and competitive playing field with participation from South Korean, Chinese, Italian, French and German OEMs.
The Ministry maintains that one of the cogent reasons not to dismantle the Board is that it offers a single-window which reduces the cost of doing business and aims to enable the domestic producer to develop local industry on international standards. Furthermore, the Board is undertaking tariff rationalization since its inception with the objective of tariff rationalization so as to reduce the overall cost of manufacturing by decreasing the cost of imported inputs.
After giving unappealing arguments, the MoI&P had requested Prime Minister to review earlier decision regarding disbandment of the EDB as that step would adversely impact the industrial sector with deleterious long-term consequences and collateral damage to the nascent innovation system. The Ministry wants to advertise the post of CEO so that a dynamic and out-of-the-box thinker can be recruited to recast the EDB.
Insiders claim that the Ministry is thinking of rehiring the same person, who is acknowledged as the one responsible for the EDB's disbandment decision. The Additional Secretary (Incharge) had also proposed to reconstitute and revamp the EDB Board so that the progressive and forward-looking individuals, with a proven track record of entrepreneurship and innovation, can be assembled to recast the intellectual and attitudinal DNA of the Board.
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