QUETTA: The visiting Ambassador from Belarus offered joint venture with the Government of Balochistan establishing a plant producing agriculture engineering projects, including tractors and bulldozers. In a way, the honourable guest offered a good suggestion that the Balochistan Government should seek joint ventures with friendly countries or those elements interested in development of Balochistan.

Under the present environment, there is no chance for investment in Balochistan because the climate is not conducive and investors will not risk the capital in the present circumstances.

Potential investors had ignored such appeals from the Chief Ministers in the past for the past three decades and there are minimum chances that any one will respond positively to the fresh request for investment. Balochistan will continue to remain undeveloped in foreseeable future.

The basic deficiency of the provincial economy is that the Government had failed to develop a decent infrastructure for future development in most parts of Balochistan.  In absence of water, power, gas, roads, communication and an efficient and skilled manpower, hardly any investors will come to Balochistan.

There are zero incentives for the investors to make any investment in any part of Balochistan, barring the Hub Sub-Division of Lasbela District for its proximity to the port city of Karachi.

We had been suggesting the Pakistan Model for development of Balochistan when the newly established State of Pakistan faced a similar situation in early years.

Experts and planners suggested massive Government investment in establishing industrial units of various scales all over Pakistan to develop the economy and provide jobs to the army of jobless people in all parts of the country. It also generated significant revenue for the new State of Pakistan to meet its expenses both development and non-development.

For this, Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) was established with the task to establish industrial units. PIDC succeeded in its efforts by setting up industrial plants at large scale and placed Pakistan on the path of speedy economic development.

When the huge industrial units were functional and completely successful, the Government started the disinvestment plan and handed over the industrial units to private sector for better management and efficient operating the mills.

Since no investor is coming to Balochistan since 1980, barring the Hub Industrial Estate Project, the Government should come forward and establish industries in public sector and operate it by using the services of honest officers and managers available in large number. All are not corrupt in Pakistan, to say the least.

Instead of sticking to the MPA or Minister development schemes, the Provincial Government should direct the entire fund of Rs 70 billion on establishment of industrial and commercial units and develop all the four important sectors of the provincial economy—Fisheries, Mineral wealth, Livestock and Agriculture sectors.

Only an completion and operation of Gwadar Port can ensure an earning several billion US dollars as fee for transit trade. Chah Bahar or Bandar Abbas and Muscat are no match to deepwater port of Gwadar

It is a confirmed fact that all the funds allocated and spent on the so-called MPAs development schemes since 1985 had gone completely waste and hardly any economist or government functionary can prove that any scheme had left an impact on the Provincial economy in providing jobs to the army of jobless or it increased the revenue of the State of Pakistan.

MPAs development fund was in fact a bribe offered to them by the General Ziaul Haq and which paid political dividend to the military dictator in forming PML Governments at the Centre and in all the four Provinces keeping all the major parties off the political scene.

The MPA development fund scheme never meant to develop Balochistan or any sector of its economy for the past three decades or more. It was meant for personal use and not for the welfare of the people at any stage. At least the past practices confirmed it.

Some political opponents consider the MPA fund as a reward for loyalty to the Government of the day. Generally Opponents are barred from it, it is claimed.

If the present Government in Balochistan is sincere, then it should divert the MPA fund for Government sponsored mega development schemes, including building huge dams on major rivers of Balochistan to store water and beat back the impact of drought for several years.

There are four most important sectors of the provincial economy on which more than 90 per cent population is engaged in gainful employment. They are Fisheries, Livestock, Agriculture and Mines and Minerals.

Besides the process of industrialization, the public sector should make huge investment in all the four important sectors of the economy making the sectors efficient meeting the demands of the broad masses in all the regions.

The Federal Government is found least interested in development of Balochistan and the province is on the lowest priority of Islamabad and its functionaries. Balochistan has zero representation in the Federal Government departments resulting minimum allocation of funds for annual development or approval of schemes for longer period.

The Provincial Government officials were also found not professionally efficient and competent to prepare mega projects at home and push it forward for its approval from the Federal Government with a firm determination.

Members of Parliament, for the past many decades, found to be self servers and they failed to defend the interests of the province. They played no role in seeking more development schemes from the Federal Government for their constituents or development of Balochistan as a whole.

In recent years, our MPs were found confined to defend their political constituents only ignoring Balochistan on the larger scale. They should not be treated as representatives of the people of Balochistan in general. Their voice should be considered a voice of a small number of their political constituents only and not whole of Balochistan. They should not be allowed to exploit the name of Balochistan while serving sectarian interests or very localized interests.