EDITORIAL: The government has notified the Public Procurement Rules 2026 with immediate effect and introduced a revamped framework centred on digital procurement, third-party oversight, tighter transparency requirements, and expanded alternative procurement methods.
A strengthened grievance procedure with complaints to be handled by committees operating outside the procuring agency and appeals to be filed before an appellate committee are no doubt targeted to ensure that those who have been unfairly side-lined in spite of submitting the lowest bid would now be able to seek redressal of their grievance.
Sceptics maintain that this notification is no doubt one of the 174 legislative amendments that the government agreed with the International Monetary Fund under the ongoing Extended Fund Facility programme and given that its fourth review is in progress the government may have been compelled to issue the notification as the Fund may have made it an upfront condition for the release of the next tranche that is sorely required for balance of payment support.
In Pakistan, past legislations and notifications have suffered from rather poor implementation. It may be recalled that uploading the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Report for Pakistan released by the IMF last year was delayed but released when the Fund made it an upfront condition for the subsequent tranche release. Two findings amongst several that were to be remedied remain pending to this day: (i) the request for information under the Right of Information Act wherein the report identified requests and appeals between 2022 to 2024 not honoured relating to Capital Development Authority (21 under process 68 closed), Ministry of Interior (26 under process and 40 closed), National Accountability Bureau (16 under process and 38 closed), Ministry of Information (21 under process and 38 closed), and Federal Board of Revenue (23 under process and 31 closed); and (ii) proposals to create standardized principles for judicial appointments and tenure for the appointment of judges and members of the administrative tribunals and specialized courts and compliance with those principles in all judicial appointments and courts.
At the same time there is a need to delink economic ideology, a component of party affiliation, to make it more in synch with technological advances. In this context it is relevant to note that the Khan administration focused on construction as the engine of growth leading to special fiscal and monetary incentives to the sector that did not bear fruit. The Pakistan People’s Party when in power used the state-owned entities as recruitment centres for its loyalists that led to over-staffing and contributed their plunge into loss-making units. And, the PML-N has been focused on road building, leading to violations of the PPRA, revealed by the largest releases under the Public Sector Development Programme to this sector.
Recent research shows that while India has rebalanced transportation multimodal system Pakistan has focused on road networks. India’s edge is through expansion of the two cheapest forms of transport of cargo – rail and inland waterways – it raised its cargo freight corridor to 31 percent, with the aim to reach 45 percent by 2030, with inland waterways expanding. In Pakistan, roads carry 96 percent of cargo (or just four percent by rail) and 93 percent of passengers. In this context it is relevant to note that planning minister Ahsan Iqbal’s ‘Vision 2025’ targeted rail freight to 20 percent.
To conclude, there is a need for taking more informed decisions based on empirical studies that are carried out in Pakistan but allowed to gather dust in ministries cupboards. While roads are important to link the country, yet given our extremely narrow fiscal space it would be appropriate to plan out which sector, sub-sector must be promoted over others to maximize the growth rate in the country, which would also generate higher output and employment opportunities.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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