The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has requested the Planning Commission to change the composition of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) as it has failed to hold a single meeting during the past three years, which is affecting the progress of the projects.
The Project Steering Committee (PSC) of the Higher Education Commission is headed by the Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives but he was apparently too busy with other work to convene the meeting of the PSC, which was hurting the progress of the projects, an official source told ProPakistani.
According to the official documents, the approved PC-I for Establishment of Sub-campuses of Public Sector Universities at District Level has the provision of Project Steering Committee (PSC), headed by the Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, and accordingly notified by Higher Education Commission.
The project, titled “Establishment of Sub Campuses of Public Sector Universities at District Level Phase-1,” was approved by the Executive Committee for the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in its meeting held on January 26, 2017.
The cost of the project is Rs. 5206.280 million, and its goal was to establish 21 public-sector university campuses in regions where no university or campus existed. Interestingly, no one during the past three years bothered to convene a meeting to review the progress on the important project related to the promotion of Higher Education in the country. It seems that education is at the bottom of the government priority list, the source said.
As for the physical progress out of 21 campuses at various districts across Pakistan, 20 campuses have been established, while one campus could not be established due to the non-availability of interim setup. As per the financial progress, an amount of Rs. 3140.196 million has been released for the project, out of which Rs. 2931.950 million has been utilized.
So far, only two meetings of the committee could be convened due to the high-level composition of the steering committee. The last meeting of the steering committee was convened on February 22, 2019. For the 3rd meeting of the Steering Committee, HEC requested the time of the minister, however, Planning Commission desired to bring a position paper for the CDWP, which can amend the Chair of the Steering Committee.
“On the request of HEC for seeking convenient date and time of the worthy Minister for MoPD&SI for convening the 3rd Meeting of the Project Steering Committee; the Minister for MoPD&SI directed that “the same committee may be reconstituted under the Chair of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,” the documents revealed. HEC has submitted a position paper to the CDWP to change the Chair of the Steering Committee, the source added.
