Ahsan Munir <\/p>\n
The Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) is tasked with establishing a legal and regulato\u00adry framework that enables public-private transac\u00adtions, fostering private sector investment in public infra\u00adstructure and services. Recently, the PPPA enlisted Kearney, a consultancy firm with reputed glob\u00adal expertise, particularly in the Middle East, to identify potential projects for investment and develop strategies for their implementation. Kearney has already engaged with 15 feder\u00adal institutions and identified 97 priority proj\u00adects. The firm is also interested in supporting the privatization of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), en\u00adhancing the regulatory framework for public sector en\u00adterprises, and attracting more investors to Pakistan. This all sounds quite familiar, doesn\u2019t it?
\nWe also have the Special Investment Facilitation Coun\u00adcil (SIFC), whose mandate is to attract investment into Pakistan with a vision of contributing to the country\u2019s economic revival by significantly expanding investment from both foreign and domestic sources. The SIFC aims to draw investments from friendly countries\u2014primar\u00adily in the Middle East\u2014in targeted sectors through an empowered organization that acts as a \u2018single-window\u2019 platform for facilitation, improving the ease of doing business for potential investors in Pakistan\u2019s economic revival. The SIFC was established to overcome bureau\u00adcratic hurdles, structural inefficiencies, and other obsta\u00adcles that inhibit investment in Pakistan.
\nSimilarly, many consultants and advisors have been hired in the past\u2014and paid in hard foreign currency\u2014to improve the performance of SOEs, privatize entities like PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills, and enhance the effi\u00adciencies of DISCOs, which the government has now de\u00adcided to privatize. Then there are departments such as the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), mandated to improve the country\u2019s exports. TDAP regu\u00adlarly holds and participates in international exhibitions, yet, despite GSP+ status, textile exports have declined. Likewise, the Small and Medium Enterprise Develop\u00adment Authority (SMEDA) is supposed to promote SMEs in the country, but de-industrialization has been occur\u00adring for the past couple of decades. The government has also conducted roadshows in Europe and China to at\u00adtract foreign investment, but aside from spending valu\u00adable foreign exchange on these junkets, little of sub\u00adstance has been achieved. Despite spending millions of dollars on consultants, exhibitions, and roadshows, there is little to show for the money spent.
\nUnfortunately, every government department is eager to attract foreign investment but shows little interest in facilitating local investors. Listening to local investors\u2019 problems, helping them navigate the bureaucratic maze, providing a level playing field with safe facilities compa\u00adrable to those offered to foreign investors, and ensuring basic infrastructure for setting up industries\u2014these are all neglected areas. Local investors don\u2019t need foreign consultancy or dollar-funded consultants to persuade them to invest in Pakistan; they simply need to be heard.
\nThe real issue is that every government seeks a quick fix, a magic solution. Instead of addressing inefficien\u00adcies, reducing bureaucratic interference, combating corruption, and hiring technocrats to do the job, new departments are created with overlapping scopes and mandates, which only increases inefficiencies and fur\u00adther complicates the investment environment. More\u00adover, the government isn\u2019t focusing on improving the general socio-economic indicators of the country, such as the rule of law, where the law is equal for everyone and the life and property of every citizen are protect\u00aded. Furthermore, the government needs to invest in ba\u00adsic infrastructure, such as strategic roads and highways that connect industrial cities and regions, and provide utilities like electricity and gas at competitive rates. Without this basic groundwork, no matter how hard the government tries to attract investment through adver\u00adtisements, roadshows, or tax breaks, no company that conducts due diligence will invest in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The writer is a freelance columnist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahsan Munir The Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) is tasked with establishing a legal and regulato\u00adry framework that enables public-private transac\u00adtions, fostering private sector investment in public infra\u00adstructure and services. Recently, the PPPA enlisted Kearney, a consultancy firm with reputed glob\u00adal expertise, particularly in the Middle East, to identify potential projects for investment and develop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13113],"class_list":{"0":"post-424504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-ahsan-munir"},"yoast_head":"\n