ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed to bring Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) under the Prime Minister’s Office and stated that he will personally supervise it.
The premier directed this while presiding over an important meeting regarding the size of the government structure and reduction in expenses. He said that the reduction in government expenditure is his priority.
The committee on rightsizing headed by the Federal Minister for Finance presented suggestions to the meeting regarding the right sizing of the federal government.
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The committee recommended elimination of around 150,000 vacancies, outsourcing of non-core services and general tasks such as sanitation and janitorial services which would result in the gradual elimination of several posts of grades 1-16.
The committee also recommended a complete ban on recruitment on contingency posts and supervision of the Finance Ministry over the cash balances of the ministries.
The meeting was put up recommendations regarding reforms in five federal ministries –Ministry of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, Ministry of State and Frontier Region, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Ministry of Industries and Production and Ministry of National Health.
It was proposed to merge the Ministry of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and the Ministry of State and Frontier Region. It was proposed that 28 institutions in these five ministries either should be completely closed, or privatised or transferred to other ministries and federal units and 12 institutions should be merged in these five ministries.
The prime minister directed that the approval of these proposed reforms should be taken from the federal cabinet. He also directed to present a comprehensive plan for the implementation of these reforms.
The premier added that the aim of the government’s institutional reforms is to reduce the burden on the national exchequer and improve the services provided to the people. He directed that such institutions which have not shown any adequate performance in terms of public service and are a burden on the national exchequer should either be abolished immediately or steps should be taken for their immediate privatisation.
The meeting was attended by the Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan, Prime Minister’s Coordinator for National Health Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed, Prime Minister’s Coordinator Bilal Azhar Kayani, and relevant senior government officials.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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