Public sector overhaul on the anvil: minister

ISLAMABAD: The government plans to boost public sector’s productivity and efficiency through exhaustive reforms by putting socioeconomic and human resource development on the front burner, a minister said on Wednesday.

“Our primary focus is to bridge disparities among districts of the country for sustained collective national progress,” Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform said during a meeting with a delegation led by Ignacio Artaza, Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at his office.

He said improving governance and Human Development Index (HDI) were the main agenda of the incumbent government. “Our ranking in terms of HDI has gone down during the previous years,” the minister noted with concern but at the same time expressed optimism that it would improve with the introduction of reforms. While talking about URAAN project, he stressed that the study should focus on improving governance. “We need to focus on governance reforms and URAAN project should be tailored accordingly,” the minister said.