Economist Dr Khalil Ahmad said here that Sindh government was lagging behind in its performance and Punjab was leading among all the four provinces, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was catching up fast. In his report titled "Provincial Tracking Report", launched at a local hotel on Wednesday, Dr Ahmad pointed out the economic performance of three provinces - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh - by tracking their progress in relation to implementation of economic manifestoes of political parties - Pakistan Tehreek-i-lnsaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P), ruling these provinces, respectively.

About Balochistan, the report carries a commentary on the socio-economic status of the province, instead of following any manifesto owing to a mid-term change of its government in the government. Highlighting the purpose of the report, he said that it was aimed at initiating policy dialogue and public debate on the progress made by political parties in relation to their electoral promises.

According to the report, the economic agenda of the PTI seems to be overwhelmed with education and health. The overall score or the implementation status of the PTI in KP in relation to its election manifesto stood at 4.69 out of 10, the report said. As far as the economic agenda of the PML-N's Punjab government was concerned, it is not much different from PTI's in KP and that of PPP in Sindh, the report said, adding that the overall performance of the PML-N in Punjab in terms of average score stood at 5.45 out of 10.

The PPP's overall score in relation to its Sindh government's performance stood at 3.71 out of 10, the report said. It further stated that an important initiative undertaken by the three provinces was the launch of a public-funded health insurance scheme for the underprivileged and the Punjab contributed its share towards the PM's National Health Programme.

The report says: "Though Sindh was initially reluctant to contribute towards the health insurance scheme, but later on it became a part of the programme." KP government didn't become a part of the said scheme. However, the province launched a similar scheme called "Sehat Insaaf Card".

Another example of this healthy competition among the provinces is the initiation of public transport projects, it further said. Moreover, Sindh government has also announced its own Karachi Mass Transit Programme in collaboration with the Chinese government, the report added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017