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Government To Designate 5 Ministry Of Defense Production Entities Into Autonomous Bodies:

The Government of PAKISTAN has decided to designate five Ministry of Defense Production Entities as Autonomous Bodies in the 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee, which was held in Institutional Reforms Cell (IRC) at PM office.

The 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee agreed on the separate categorization of the five prime Defense Entities as the Autonomous Bodies except.

The 5 Prime Defense Entities, which Government has decided to designate as Autonomous Bodies, including:

1. PAKISTAN Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra

2. Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KS&EW), Karachi

3. Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), Taxila

4. PAKISTAN Ordinance Factories (POF), Wah Cantt

5. National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC)

The 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee further agreed to the categorization of Director General Munition Production (DGMP), excluding the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Institute of Optronic (IOP), Military Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (MVRDE) and Director General Defense Purchase (DGDP) as executive Departments.

It is further agreed in the meeting that the Military Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (MVRDE), Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and Institute of Optronic (IOP) will be merged together under one Umbrella department with the proposed name of “Research and Development Establishment”.

The “Research and Development Establishment” will be working under the Ministry of Defense Production (MODP), which will be designated as the Executive Department under the Director General Research and Development Establishment (DGRDE).

It is decided in the 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee that all the reorganization and restructuralization of all Director General Establishment Division (DGRDE) and Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) will be done with the help of allocated and available resources.

All the deputation/internal transfer of these Organizations will be done by the Secretary Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) as per the rules, regulation policy.

The 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee was started by the presentation by the Ministry of Defense Production regarding the restructuring of the Ministry.

On the occasion, the Director General Military Vehicles Research and Establishment Division (DG MVRDE) Major General Khurram Anwar Qadri highlighted the background of the restructuring plan as the mandate of the Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) as given in the Rules of Business in 1973.

During the occasion, the DG MVRDE highlighted the other Major Defense Production Entities of PAKISTAN which are also working under the Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) till recently, which includes the PAKISTAN Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), Taxila, PAKISTAN Ordnance Factories (POF) Wah Cantt, Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KS&EW) and the National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NCRTC).

The representatives of the 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee also explained in detail the existing ministerial setup and also the major problems faced by the Defense Entities which are working under the Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP).

The major problems include the lack of financial and legal experts, limited involvement of Private Sector and Absence of Defense Production Policy formulation and strategic decision making ability.

It is noted in the 13th meeting of the Implementation Committee that in order to overcome the weakness posed by the Major Defense Entities of PAKISTAN, the Ministry of Defense Production (MoDP) presented the following proposals:

1. A New proposed Ministerial Organogram

2. Re-structuring of Boards of the Autonomous Bodies

3. Designation of Power of Secretary Defense Production for Deputation and Internal Transfer of Executives and Staff of the Departments

4. Creation of New Executive Departments by using the available allocated resources

It is pertinent to mention that until recently, PAKISTAN ARMY Order (PAO) Power of POF Wah Cantt, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) and PAKISTAN Aeronautical Complex (PAC) are formulated by the Secretary Ministry of Defense Production, which needs to be delegated to the Head/ Executive Departments of the respective organizations.