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Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment
stated that increased private sector participation in areas of water supply,
waste management & sanitation, urban transport was necessary to promote economic growth and
reduce poverty. He said this while chairing a meeting to review the Public Private Infrastructure Financing
Facility under the aegis of the Asian Development Bank here today.
He said that the public sector had been the main provider of basic infrastructure in Pakistan; however,
paucity of resources limits the Government's capacity to meet growing infrastructure needs of the
country.
Currently, the existing infrastructure was largely inadequate to satisfy the needs of economic
development as well as the demand arising from population growth, he added. To augment limited
public resources for infrastructure, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stated that private sector participation
needed to be encouraged by creating an enabling environment for increased private
sector involvement.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh directed the consultants to accelerate their work and provide a comprehensive
mechanism for key sectors. He also underscored the need for proactive involvement of all agencies of
the federal and provincial governments for establishing the right market structures and
incentives and suggested changes in terms of approaches, institutional reorganizations, and
appropriate policy especially at the provincial and local bodies level and to facilitate project
development.
Mr. Danyal Aziz, MNA, Chairman NRB speaking on the occasion stated that the issues in the political
economy of Pakistan had largely affected the private sector participation in infrastructure projects. He
stated that there was an urgent need to involve citizens and private sector in projects at the local
level to accelerate the development of the country. In this regard he underscored the need for risk
mitigation measures and instruments to encourage private sector participation in infrastructure projects.
The meeting was informed that the full potential of the private sector to meet Pakistan's pressing
infrastructure needs is largely untapped. Thus far, there have been some successes in attracting
private sector participation in power and telecommunications sectors and some projects in
waste management, urban transport and airports in Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot and
Faislabad. However, there is a dire need for investments in infrastructure projects
across the country in these and other areas of infrastructure.
The technical assistance project of ADB will identify the key constraints affecting private sector
participation in infrastructure development in Pakistan, identify the priorities and determine what
further assistance is required for creating the enabling environment for private sector
involvement in infrastructure development. The Technical Assistance (TA) will also provide the
design for the Public-Private Infrastructure Finance Facility proposed by ADB for 2005.
The meeting was attended amongst others by the Secretary, Privatisation Division, Secretary, BOI, and senior
representatives from Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Division, Ministry of Water & Power, Ministry of
Communications, NHA, provincial governments, Asian Development Bank, Board of Investment and
Privatisation Commission.