Infrastructure issues in Pakistan

State of Infrastructure in Pakistan
By Syed Aman- Executive Director- ActionPakistan

Here is a summary from a recent report from the World Bank on Pakistan’s Infrastructure: Report Summary: (February 8, 2008) Pakistan suffers from a dearth of infrastructure in the water, irrigation, power, and transport sectors. The report calls for  urgent measures to strengthen the country’s capacity to undertake major infrastructure projects. Lack of adequate irrigation, power, and transport infrastructure hinders growth and is affecting all sectors of the economy,” said Yusupha Crookes, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.

In the current environment, the report concludes that the construction industry does not have the capacity to deliver the Government’s planned infrastructure program. Its analysis found that contractors keep getting work even though they lack the capacity to perform.  The business environment has delivery constraints, planned projects often take longer to complete, and even longer to achieve a financial close. Issues such as poor project planning, insufficient programming, and weak implementation are common.

Role of the Federal Government
Virtually every area around the country is in dire need of infrastructure upgrade. Federal Government must take the lead in developing infrastructure policies and unified standards but must delegate project implementation to States and regional planning districts.

Need for Bold Action- a national Public Works Corp
Executive Government in coordination with the parliament should consider adopting a national Public Work Corp to address all infrastructure and emergency issues. Such a corp would be drafted from each state and would work directly under the auspices of the State’s Infrastructure Director and the regional planning districts. The Corp must also receive coordination from the Pakistan Army Corp of Engineers specially in logistics. Without having a skilled workforce we cannot even think of developing infrastructure projects. The Public Works Corp would create thousands of jobs and would be the catalyst in upgrading the country’s infrastructure. The Corp would work on all projects ranging from road construction, bridges, housing, drainage, sewage treatment plants, alternative energy projects such as windmills and solar collectors, health facilities, schools, and other emergency needs of the country.