According to the Express Tribune, the Cabinet has hired a foreign consultancy firm to ease the legal framework for public procurement and strengthen SIFC to prepare various projects before pitching them to foreign investors.
“According to government sources, a foreign consultancy firm will be hired for five years to replace Pakistani bureaucrats whose planning and execution of the project was found to be flawed,” the newspaper reported.
However, this decision reflects poorly on the workings of the bureaucracy that failed to provide quality support to SIFC.
The cabinet has approved the outline through a circular on the advice of the SIFC, which recommended granting exemption on grounds of incompetence of Pakistan’s federal bureaucracy, a senior government official confirmed on Saturday.
In the case of a circular, the summary is approved without deliberation at a regular cabinet meeting.
Sources said Pakistan is struggling to prepare projects for investment by Saudi Arabia, Britain and Kuwait due to the ineffective bureaucracy.
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This comes a week after Pakistan offered Saudi Arabia a very lucrative return for a $5 billion investment.
The government was overjoyed with the presentation to the Saudi delegation and appreciated Islamabad’s preparedness compared to the past.
However, bureaucrats were not trained in specific skills and the Saudi delegation was much better prepared compared to the Pakistani delegation.
One reason for the lack of an effective and efficient bureaucracy is that generalists are appointed as heads of economic ministries.
These bureaucrats are mainly Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) employees who are transferred to other ministries after acquiring job expertise.
The Federal Secretary can be appointed as Treasury Secretary, Powers Secretary, Planning Secretary, Investment Board Secretary, or Petroleum Secretary at any time, even if he does not have the necessary expertise.
