RAWALPINDI, Jan 16 (APP):Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar Thursday said that the government’s top priority was to complete the projects under the Public Sector Development Projects (PSDP) at the earliest.
According to a statement issued here, talking to the delegation of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce (RCCI) led by its President Saboor Malik, the minister said that the business community was a key player in development of the country.
Asad informed that infrastructure and energy projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), were either completed or near completion.
“Under the CPEC, the ML-1 project, costing around $ 9 billion, will begin in the current financial year,” he said adding private sector could participate in CPEC projects under a public-private partnership.
He said that the present government had spent a huge amount of 75 billion rupee on development schemes in the month of December 2019 alone under the PSDP. In the previous six months, this expenditure was around 97 billion rupee,he added.
“We have come out of the bad phase, and now working on a strategy to reduce cost of doing business and accelerate development plans,”he said.
Speaking on the occasion, President Saboor Malik said that under the CPEC, the Chamber of Commerce should be consulted in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ).
“The business community understand the economic challenges and we believed that worst phase has gone and best is far away and an active response from government side is required to bridge the gap,” he added.
