Islamabad
The National Development Council (NDC) on Thursday decided that every possible effort would be made to enhance annual development spending of Balochistan over next nine years enabling the province to overcome development challenges, reduce budget deficit and enhance its revenue generation capacity.
Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired first meeting of the National Development Council here at Prime Minister’s Office.
Development plan of Balochistan, Master Plan of Gwadar, creation of CPEC Authority and Accelerated Development Plan 2019-20 for the erstwhile FATA/merged districts were discussed during the meeting.
A detailed presentation was made on the development plan of Balochistan that included measures to further improve security environment in the province, especially the border management, improving the writ of state and sectoral development of critical sectors for socio-economic betterment of its people.
The meeting was informed that the past neglect of the province, lack of connectivity and economic integration, security challenges and underutilization and mismanagement of resources contributed towards poverty in the province. A study of utilization of development budget for past eight years revealed that out of total expenditure made on the development of the province, approximately 45% was wasted due to pilferage. As regards various sectoral development plans, the meeting was informed that communication and infrastructure projects such as completion of M-8 Motorway project, construction of 819 km Chaman-Quetta-Karachi Motorway, Basima-Khuzdar Road and 124 km Awaran-Bela Road project would significantly improve connectivity and communication infrastructure in the province.
On development of coastal areas of the province, the forum approved, in principal, undertaking feasibility studies for port at Gaddani. —APP
