MoDP directed to submit long-term budgetary plan

A parliamentary panel on Thursday directed Ministry of Defence Production to submit a long-term budgetary plan to meet the needs of the industry. The committee met in the chair of Senator Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (retd). The committee discussed mid-financial year budget review of Ministry of Defence Production. The committee was also briefed on brass mill up-gradation and its impacts on overall defence production.
The committee agreed that Ministry of Defence Production should have a separately dedicated budget based on its requirements and its budget should not come through the Ministry of Defence. The committee recommended the government to give a serious thought to the recommendations of the committee.
The committee asked the ministry to put up a plan for budget requirements for next 3 to 5 years. The chairman of the committee observed that at the time of Independence of Pakistan, there was not a single ordnance factory and now Pakistan is nearly self-sufficient in defence needs of tactical defensive conventional weapons, missile technology and suitable nuclear deterrence to guard its territorial integrity and national security.
The committee also gave a number of directions to enhance the efficiency of units. It suggested to the ministry that all production set-ups should have one-time budget allocation made to run their outfits on sound commercial lines. Armed forces of the country should be given the first right to these products and if they do not need them, other buyers should be attracted.
The members of the committee also proposed that defence production set-ups must also have dedicated budget for research, development, indigenisation and innovative pursuits. The committee also stressed that matching attention will also be required to enhance production capacity of POF, HIT and PAC Kamra. It also suggested, "In order to improve teeth-to-tail ratio of defence production set-ups, we need to separate the core production units from the huge logistics and security set-ups like big hospitals and Defence Services Guard battalions, which is essential to make these set-ups cost-effective."
The committee was given a detailed briefing on brass mills expansion and its functioning on commercial lines which was highly appreciated. The committee chairman and members said that for the expanded defence production set-ups like Pakistan Ordnance Factory, Heavy Industry Taxila, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra, Air Weapon Complex, Karachi Shipyard, Precision Engineering Complex and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, the credit goes to national scientists, armed forces leadership and last but not the least to the engineers, and skilled and semi-skilled workers who exhibited extreme dedication and hard work.