PRIME Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed for the immediate dissolution of the Pakistan Public Works Department (Pak PWD) due to years-long poor performance and corruption. The Prime Minister issued this directive during a high-level meeting focused on reducing government expenditure and the size of its infrastructure. He observed that Pak PWD as a department had failed to achieve its objectives and asked for alternate mechanisms for the development projects which were tasked to the department.
The Public Works Department was established way back in 1854 and after independence it was renamed as Pakistan Public Works Department. It is an attached department of the Ministry of Housing and Works and has been undertaking execution of Federal Government building and infrastructure works. This was supposed to be a specialized agency to ensure quality and standard of the construction work undertaken in the public sector but with the passage of time its staff focused more on milking contractors than on professional pursuits. The department also lost its utility due to devolution of its functions and responsibilities to the provinces and other agencies like the National Highway Authority (NHA) and civic bodies. There is logic in the demand that the ministries and departments that stand devolved to the provinces under the 18th amendment in the Constitution should be dissolved and in this connection the oft-repeated proposal of the PPP for devolution of seventeen federal ministries to the provinces must be given serious consideration to save expenditure. A committee, headed by Chairman Planning Commission, has given recommendations for either abolition of some ministries and departments or their merger and these should also be finalized at the earliest.
