CHAIRING two important meetings on Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued directions that would go a long way in making Gwadar port fully operational and moving closer towards the cherished goal of good governance and transparency. While chairing a review meeting on Chinese investment, he explicitly instructed the authorities concerned to bring 50 percent of all public sector cargo inland via sea through Gwadar port. He also presided over a meeting to review the information technology IT projects and implementation of the measures to increase IT exports giving clear directions for paperless governance, use of mobile applications by the public sector organizations for provision of citizens related services and timely completion of all IT related projects.
Pakistan is striving hard to attract foreign investment as part of its strategy to rejuvenate the economy and with this in view it is but natural that hurdles in the way of investment and trade with our trusted partner China are removed on a priority basis. Therefore, the Prime Minister deserves appreciation for personally looking into the different aspects of investment from China and the briefing given during the meeting reflected the sense of urgency to do so. The decision to route fifty percent public sector cargo through Gwadar port would help evaluate capacity and ability of the facility to handle cargo and establish best practices for the purpose. Similarly instructions were issued a few years back vis-à-vis import of wheat and fertilizer via Gwadar but such decisions could not bring about the desired change to make Gwadar a port of choice for importers and exporters because of practical difficulties – absence of required facilities and reliable networks of rail and road to connect Gwadar with different parts of the country for efficient and economical transportation of goods. Therefore, the best way to ensure optimal utilization of the Gwadar port would be to complete all developmental projects on time and provide world class services to importers and exporters. This investment is worth making as Karachi port is over-burdened and consignments take weeks to clear with accompanying risks. A delegation of Chinese experts visited Pakistan recently and its interaction with Pakistani interlocutors is expected to result in significant progress in cooperation and investment across trade, energy, agriculture, information technology, communication and infrastructure. It was briefed that Chinese experts would be enlisted for technology transfer, removing non-trade barriers, boosting the country’s exports, upgrading electric vehicles, electro-medical devices and other sectors. In an encouraging development, China’s BYD, a leader in the electronics, automotive, renewable energy and rail transit industries, has announced plans to open a car production plant in Pakistan and now a Chinese auto spare parts company has expressed its desire to set up a plant in the country. We hope these initiatives will mature soon, contributing significantly to socio-economic development of Pakistan. The direction of the Prime Minister making it mandatory for all federal ministries and divisions to switch to the E-Office system, abandoning manual filing systems is in line with modern day working of the Government and implementation of the vision of the PM would ensure smooth delivery of services to citizens. A digital smart cities project is being launched in Islamabad initially to provide easy access to citizens to 150 services through the Islamabad City Super Application under the project services of Capital Development Authority (CDA). Islamabad Police, Health and Education departments will be available to citizens through a mobile application while the services of the federal government will be made available across the country through mobile application in the final stages. These moves and the information given to the meeting that IT exports increased by thirty percent in the first five months as compared to last year speak volumes about prospects of IT growth in Pakistan but for this to happen the government will have to sort out issues repeatedly being agitated by the IT industry including excessive taxation, frequent disruptions in Internet services and now the issue of slow speed.
