Secretary, HED – Dr. Farrukh Naveed
Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of the Punjab
Dr. Farrukh Naveed is an experienced Civil Servant from Provincial Management Services, with a diverse experience in Public Sector Departments, Development Projects and District Administration spanning over two decades. He is a skilled professional in Government Management, Policy & Governance, Research, Project Planning & Implementation, Project Financing, Risk Management and Stakeholder Management; with a PhD from University of Manchester, UK in “Development Policy & Management” focusing upon PPPs in developing countries. He also holds MSc degree in “Management & Implementation of Development Projects” from the University of Manchester, UK and MBA (Finance) from IBA, University of the Punjab, Pakistan.
With a diverse academic background in development policy planning & management as well as Finance, he has played a pivotal role in reforming the regulatory framework governing the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)in Punjab through introduction of the Punjab Public Private Partnership Act 2019 and setting up of a robust institutional framework for PPPs comprising of PPP Policy & Monitoring Board, Punjab PPP Authority, Executive Committee of the PPPPA, Risk Management Unit and PPP Cell. He was the first CEO of the newly established Punjab PPP Authority under the PPP Act 2019.
While focusing upon institutional and regulatory reforms, Dr. Farrukh in his capacity as CEO of the Punjab PPP Authority developed a sizable portfolio of potentially viable PPP projects and reached out the embassies of UAE, Qatar and Indonesia to encourage private investors from friendly countries to participate in future biddings for PPP projects in Punjab. He also signed an MOU with Office of Public Private Partnerships (OPPP), Asian Development Bank for Transaction Advisory Services to promote health sector PPPs and opened up a dialogue with commercial banks through State Bank of Pakistan to facilitate the private sector in securing private capital under Project Financing mode instead of traditional commercial lending arrangements. In short, enough spade work was done by him to strengthen the PPP ecosystem in Punjab and develop PPPPA as an efficient organization capable of delivering the desired outcomes in future.
The leadership provided by Dr Farrukh as CEO PPPPA marked an era of institution/ capacity building, innovation, and inclusive development of PPPs in Punjab which could serve as basis for a paradigm shift in future development planning / financing in Punjab.