Regional Planning Districts
REGIONAL PLANNING DISTRICTS (RPD’s) IN PAKISTAN-Offers the best solution for Integrated Service Delivery
By Syed Aman- Executive Director- ActionPakistan
Background- Why do we need a regional planning district (RPD)?
RPD can best be described as the most effective tool to decentralize national institutions by addressing and resolving critical services on a regional level. There is already a tehsil/district functional mechanism in Pakistan that is working towards this goal but such a system needs revamping with enlarged capacity to address all the local and regional issues. In a recent report by World Bank ” Pakistan’s social indicators are lower than other countries with similar per capita income. That means that improving service delivery is a pressing task for the government, and devolution can help.” Data suggests that Pakistan and international consultants such as World Bank and Asia Development Bank are working hard towards developing a decentralized policy. We hope that suggestions made in this report would complement the existing efforts of Pakistan Government and other agencies.
RPD’s Benifits
Virtually all the problems that Pakistan is facing namely poverty,education,economy,health care,infrastructure, & law and order will eventually have to be resolved in cities,villages,and rural areas of Pakistan. With Pakistan’s population reaching 170 Million the need to react quickly is critical and can best be done at the local/regional level. Thus, regional councils or regional planning districts can play a vital role in not only addressing those issues more efficiently but are more suitable to implement and manage those issues.Members of the National Assembly, State representatives, Local Nazims and other local business leaders can coordinate all their needs thru their RPD.
Regional Planning District is an Integrated Service Delivery Mechanism. One Stop Service
Functions
A regional planning district is a multi-service entity with defined service boundaries. It serves as the official agency to plan, deliver, and manage a variety of functions.It is basically a clearinghouse for delivery of all services to the district. RPD’s primary responsibility is to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to deliver services in the following areas:
1) Identifying poverty areas and implementing poverty solutions
2) Managing all schools within its boundaries
3) Plan and upgrade all infrastructure within its boundaries
4) Analyze economic resources within its boundaries and work with state and federal government to attract appropriate industries to the district
5) Work with all villages and towns within its jurisdiction at consensus building, problem solving, social and environmental issues. One efficient tool that has been very successful in the U.S. is to invite and appoint all stakeholders within the district as part of Steering Committees for recommendations.
6) Plans and manages all health care facilities within its boundaries.
RPD Composition
A Regional Planning District (RPD) is administered by an Executive Director (ED) appointed by the Chief Minister of the Province and confirmed by the State Parliament. The ED is a technocrat with diversified background in city planning, education, and social services. It should not be a political appointee. There should be a screening committee formed to evaluate resumes of individuals for this position. The Screening committee can then recommend the final candidate to the Chief Minister who may refer such candidate to the State Parliament for confirmation. The Regional Planning District Coordinator reports to the State or Province Coordinator of Regional Planning. Each RPD should have a minimum of seven (7) divisions to accomplish Federal objectives. These divisions are as follows:
1) Planning & Operations ( includes city planners,engineers, GIS specialists, education specialists,health care specialists, and security personnel). Planning Department is reponsible for preparing a master plan of the district, gathers all the district data on population, census, poverty, economy, education, health care, agriculture & food distribution,infrastructure, & law and order. (Note: all master plans must be approved with local consensus
2) Education Department is responsible for creating a school district and working out details of implementing school programs according to the master plan
3) HealthCare Department carries out the management of health facilities for the entire district, develops nutrition programs for the kids, recommends needs for new health clinics to the ED.
4) Law and Order Department collects security data for the district and updates the master plan accordingly. It also supervises district law enforcement personnel.
5) Independent Judiciary for the district should also be closely housed near the RPD center
6) Infrastructure Department. We propose a trained public works corp to be deployed within this department to address all infrastructure needs in the district. This may include building health clinics for the poor, hospitals, schools,housing,sewer and water facilities, transportation system, and agriculture/food distribution needs.
7) Community Support/Coordination. This is the most important part of RPD’s. Professionally trained personnel from various RPD departments should be constantly involved in educating the public about what their RPD is doing and how they can help people. Public input at all levels is the most important and effective tool for the success of RPD’s. People must trust and respect their government and should have full confidence in the ability of their Regional Districts. RPD’s whould also work closely with other adjacent RPD’s on project coordination. For example a roadway going thru several RPD’s should have an InterRPD
take force to develop a broader understanding of how such projects can be developed and maintained.
Budget for RPD’s
Federal and Provincial Governments must allocate sufficient start up resources to implement RPD’s across the country.
Summary
As shown in the above map we recommend a minimum of 3 RPD’s per province with 2 additional RPD’s for the Northern Area and Kashmir. We recocmmend FATA area should be integrated with The 3 Northwest Frontier Province RPD’s.
FAST TRACK IMPLEMENTATION OF RPD’S IS RECOMMENDED-PAKISTAN PARLIAMENT IS THE BEST PLATFORM FOR SUCH A DEBATE AND ENACTMENT OF RPD LEGISLATION
We sincerely urge our leaders of all political and religous parties to join hands, set aside their differences, and make a bold and decisive national commitment to the implementation of RPD’s. ActionPakistan strongly beleives that RPD’s (if implemented with a full national commitment) will take Pakistan to a different level in a very short time. However, RPD functions must never be politicized regardless of who is in power. For RPD’s to be effective, they must remain a professional merit based organization at all levels. It is also recoemmended that RPD’s should be closely coordinated with Pakistan’s Armed forces for logistical and technical support where necessary. For assistance in setting up an RPD or developing a more detailed plan please contact us at aman@actionpakistan.com. We also encourage all readers to register with this project and submit their input.
By Syed Aman/ Executive Director-ActionPakistan.com
Syed Aman is a former City Planner for San Antonio with over 30 years
experience in city and regional planning and management of one of the largest
School Districts in Texas. Syed Aman currently serves as the CEO of Centra Corporation,
a Texas based Planning and Engineering Consulting firm.
Regional Planning Districts | admin, April 26, 2009 10:57 am
