ACCORDING to media reports, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assigned his team of experts to devise a strategy in line with the constitutional provisions for greater engagement of provinces in national decision-making on issues concerning economy, investment and price-hike. The instructions were given by him at a briefing session, where it was emphasized that regular meetings of National Economic Council (NEC) and Council of Common Interests (CCI) should be held to monitor the supply of essential commodities, curb inflation, stabilize prices and facilitate investment. Such frequent interaction between the provinces and the Centre will benefit the people of all the provinces.
Be it the economy or public safety, a meaningful improvement is not possible without active cooperation and involvement of the federating units as they receive the bulk of resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and have the paraphernalia to ensure writ of the state. In this backdrop, the move of the Prime Minister to devise a strategy for better coordination with the provinces is a step in the right direction that will help ensure proper implementation of policies and programmes devised and launched by the federal government. No doubt, we already have relevant platforms to get input from provinces and sort out their concerns on important issues but it is also a fact that the true potential of constitutional and legal bodies like CCI and NEC was never exploited because of political differences, short-sightedness and the tendency of maintaining concentration of power. Secretariats of CCI and NEC need to be strengthened to streamline their working and sort out differences on issues, policies and plans on a priority basis. Similarly, we have a high powered Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) where provinces are also represented by their Chief Ministers and the forum has been taking important decisions with consensus. However, there seems to be no effective coordination between the Centre and the provinces, which has been highlighted by the lack of required progress on implementation of important projects under the framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Years have passed since we reached an understanding with China for development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) but none of them has become functional because of lack of interest on the part of the provinces to prioritize acquisition of land and provision of necessary infrastructure. A new strategy for strengthening coordination between the federal and provincial governments is a welcome initiative but steps must be taken to ensure proper exploitation of the potential of the existing mechanisms.
