It is plain that this entails large cost overruns since these projects will require a lot more money to complete than the estimated costs at the time of their initiation.
The affected projects include judicial and police reforms, which is inexcusable given that undertakings such as these do not require the physical laying down of special infrastructure by way of preparatory ground work.
Then there are other vital projects such as revamping of watercourses in Punjab, promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), development programmes for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), and upliftment of women and low-income groups, particularly those living in the rural areas where the incidence of poverty is the highest.
Water shortages having become a persistent problem, preventing wastage must be a priority issue.
And there is an increasing realisation in this country that a particularly effective poverty reduction strategy would be to invigorate the SME sector.
It already is a major source of employment generation, with a little bit of help and proper incentives it can generate many more of the much-needed jobs.
There are equally strong reasons to implement development projects in Fata.
The areas being a hotbed of militancy, it is widely believed that an effective way to deal with the situation there is to bring them within the fold of mainstream through economic betterment as well as popularisation of education.
The need to uplift the traditionally oppressed sections of society, comprising women and the rural poor, cannot be overemphasised.
It is unfortunate indeed that such important programmes have failed to come to fruition while a vast majority of our people live in perpetual want of justice, security and basic needs of daily life. And that what has kept them from making progress are not the usual financial constraints but an extremely limited implementation and delivery system.
Clearly, this system needs to be revitalised. An essential step in that direction would be for the government to put in place a proper monitoring mechanism, which can identify impediments as and when they occur so that they can be addressed in a timely fashion. Notably, a while ago Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz did mention a plan charging the Planning Commission with the responsibility to monitor implementation of the Development Programme and report on a quarterly basis.
But it is not known what happened to that plan. As we have been pointing out in these columns, the Planning Commission has the necessary manpower and know-how to do the job. It must be assigned the responsibility to monitor implementation of the reforms too and present its report on a regular basis. Transparency, it goes without saying, is an important ingredient of a well functioning monitoring system.
The Planning Commission can fulfil that requirement through the issuance of quarterly status reports, so that they can help the press and civil society to maintain oversight. Hopefully, ADB's displeasure at the slow pace of implementation of various development projects, initiated with its help, would lead to early institution of such a monitoring and oversight system.