Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) is in a state of shock after a high-level body headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to wind up Engineering Development Board (EDB) due to rampant corruption and unfriendly behaviour by staff. Well-informed sources told Business Recorder that the incumbent government's key focus is power sector and most of the projects are being established under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) or through the private sector.
The companies which establish projects are required to get few certificates from the EDB but investors are not being facilitated and instead hurdles are being created. The Sharif family is also establishing baggasse-fired power plant in southern Punjab. The sources said, the unfriendly behavior of EDB came under discussion in a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy presided over by the Prime Minister.
The CCoE was informed that the EDB was not performing any function, either in terms of regulation or promotion of engineering enterprises, especially in the energy sector. "Malpractices have become endemic in the Board and exploitation of business by itself had become the norm. Board has in fact become a major impediment to improving the ease of doing business and creating an enabling environment for industrial expansion and economic development," reveals an official document.
After a careful consideration, the CCoE concluded that the EDB was not serving any useful purpose, that it was an impediment to good governance, and that it must be dissolved forthwith. This is not the first time that corruption charges have been leveled against the EDB. Previously, the auto sector including top car assemblers wrote to the Ministry that EDB is creating hurdles for them instead of facilitating them. The auto industry has expressed severe reservations against the incumbent CEO for creating undue hurdles.
A couple of days ago, Secretary Industries Khizer Hayat Gondal and Secretary Board of Investment (BoI) Azher Ali Choudhary co-chaired a meeting with new investors who intend to set up plants under Greenfield scheme of ADP 2016-21 and heard their grievances against the EDB. When contacted, a senior official of the MOI&P said the Prime Minister's decision would be conveyed to Minister Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi when he returns from his trip abroad; the EDB would share its views on the prime Minister's decision and seek his guidance for further line of action. After due consultation, the Ministry may send the submission to the Prime Minister for reconsideration of the CCoE decision.
The organisation is an old one and the questions that would be raised within the Ministry are: if EDB is dissolved which other organisation will carry out its functions? To what extent is it indispensable? And will there be any need for a new organisation to interact with the industry. "The government has also to consider the fate of existing staff in case the organisation is wound up in accordance with the CCoE decision," the source continued.
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