Stop this wastage

AT a time when the federal government has drastically cut the development budget due to paucity of resources, comes the news of sheer wastage of development funds by the previous NWFP government. A Recorder Report discloses that the audit of accounts for 2004-05 showed that some 596.753 million rupees remained unutilised. It cites several examples of what easily qualifies to be termed as a criminal wastage of resources. For instance, the Frontier Highways Authority (FHA) did nothing with Rs 227.853 million it had received to initiate some infrastructure projects, and yet it drew another Rs 315.323 million from the treasury to deposit in its account. As of June 30, 2004, it had some 543.176 million sitting in its bank account unspent. When it did decide to make use of the money in 2003-04, it acquired two sets of steel replacement bridges of 110 feet span each at a cost of Rs 25.114 million but 20 months after the acquisition, the bridges still remained stored in a Peshawar warehouse. Then there were other examples like that of the Project Division for Small Irrigation Schemes. The division acquired equipment worth Rs 20 million from the now defunct directorate of small dams, but never used them. In several other cases either the money remained unutilised or it was put to uses that had little justification. What makes the matter look particularly bad is that the office of the auditor general had actually caught the lapses and pointed them out to the provincial government in April 2005. It was told that FHA had the government authorisation to take the money and keep it in its own accounts. FHA was again admonished at a Departmental Accounts Committee meeting later in November, but to no avail.
In the meantime, runway inflation has drastically deflated the value of all those old funds. The situation is not peculiar to NWFP. As a matter of fact, the problem of poor handling of funds is pervasive in most development schemes launched by the federal government as well as those devised by the other provinces. It is not uncommon to see funds lapsing due to inefficiency. Faced with such an eventuality, officials in charge tend to think that either they must spend the money at their disposal or risk losing it. Some decide to put it to wrong use as is evident from the example of the two abandoned steel bridges. Almost always the cause is identifiable as a lack of necessary expertise to plan and execute development projects in a timely fashion. At least two things need to be done to avoid this wastage. First of all, the audit reports need to come out more expeditiously than is the practice. The present one talks about problems that occurred about four years ago, ie, in fiscal 2004-05. Most of those responsible for inefficiency/mismanagement, both at the level of political leadership and senior civil servants, are not there anymore to answer for their questionable behaviour and make amends. Secondly, it would be advisable to assign the provincial planning and development boards, which have the necessary expertise, the task of monitoring various development schemes to check progress and offer advice.

Sarkozy in Damascus

IT is not possible to describe French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Syria as anything but historic. Coming as it does after years of tensions between Syria and France over the alleged interference of the Syrian regime in Lebanon, this visit is path-breaking in every sense of the term. So the diplomatic initiative that began with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s surprising participation in the recent Bastille Day celebrations in Paris has been taken to its logical conclusion. If the French leadership surprised the world, especially the Western leaders, by inviting Assad to the landmark event, Sarkozy’s Damascus visit is bound to further intrigue them. However, Sarkozy is different from the rest of the lot. Besides, as they say, there are no permanent friends or foes in international relations, only permanent interests. And unlike the outgoing US leadership, President Nicolas Sarkozy clearly does not believe in earning unnecessary enemies when you can win friends. Unlike his predecessor Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy has been very close to the US leadership, especially President Bush. But unlike Chirac, Sarkozy is a smart and pragmatic politician. And he knows that keeping Syria out in the cold is neither in the interest of the West nor in the interests of the West’s friends and allies in the Middle East. The US and Western pressure on Syria has only isolated it from the rest of the Arab world and pushed it into the welcoming arms of Iran.
Which is why Sarkozy’s visit to Syria is so welcome. It will not only help end the alienation of the Alawite regime in Damascus from the West but will also help improve its isolations with the rest of the Middle East. Syria is already trying hard to resolve its issues with Lebanon. Last month Lebanese President Michel Suleiman paid a watershed visit to Damascus which led to the neighbours agreeing on exchange of ambassadors — for the first time since the two countries won independence from the French more than half a century ago. On the other hand, Syria has also been in negotiations with arch enemy Israel in Turkey. Although these talks haven’t resolved any issues so far, the very fact that Syria and Israel are talking augurs well for peace in the Middle East. France has also expressed its keenness to help the Syria-Israel dialogue. President Sarkozy deserves all the credit for quietly stepping into the role of the peacemaker and mediator in the Middle East, something that the volatile region has badly needed for some time. The US, the big player in the Middle East, has lost its credibility in the region thanks to the Bush administration’s disastrous and completely skewed policies in the region, especially towards Israel. Under the neocons, the US has done away with the pretence of playing an honest broker in the Middle East. And the rest of the West, the European Union countries especially, have watched from the sidelines rubbing their hands in silence. Let’s hope Sarkozy’s France will be different and prove more reasonable and just in dealing with the Palestinians and Israelis.

—Khaleej Times