Dahomey - Report to the government of Dahomey on the elaboration of the country's third development plan

FILE COPY Report No. EI-3 REPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF DAHOMEY ON THE ELABORATION OF THE COUNTRY'S THIRD DEVELOPMENT PLAN June 1, 1970 Th~s reFo~t was prepared at the request of the Government of Dahomey. The views and recommendations contained in the report are those oi' the author rather than those of the Bank Group. The Government of Dahomey is responsible for the release and distribution of the report. -. This report is based on the findings of a mission, consisting of Mr. Giulio Fossi of the Development Services Department, which visited Dahomey in December 1969.  TABLE OF COHTENTS ~y AND CONCLUSIONS •••.••••.•••.••.•.. ••••••••••••••••.•••••••• • i-iii I• THE PLANNING EXPERIENCE A. Tile Plans .....•..••.•...............•..•.........•..... 1 B. The Ministry of Planning ............................... 1 c. Data Availability ..................................... . 3 D. The Plan and the Budget ............................... . 3 II. POSSIBLE CHANGES IN THE PLANNING AND GOVERNMENT HACHINERY A. Plan Organization ..................................... . 5 B. Programming Units ...................................... 5 c. Central Projects Bureau ................................ 6 III. THE PREPARATION OF THE THIRD PLAN A. Stock-Taking .......................................... . 1 B. Commissions ............................................ . 1 c. Format ................................................. 8 IV. TECIDUCAL ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAN PREPARATION A. Principles and Iviethods ................................ . 9 B. Stages a:n.d Fun.ctiona ................................... . 9 SutfJHARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1. The experience of the past has shown that, while a plan document existed, planning has not become part of the Dahomean Government practice. (i) The preparation of the 1966-70 plan was done on a technically sound basis but the time allowed for its elaboration was in- sufficient and there were too fEM Dahomean technicians who really participated in the exercise. The planning corrnnissions were not staffed to function adequately and f~1 officials of the technical ministries and of the I1i.nistry of Planning were in a position to benefit from the training given by technical assistance experts involved in the preparation of the plan. (ii) With regard to the implementation of the 1966-70 plan, two surveys were made by the Nini.stry of Planning for 1967 and 1968, but none was published. It appears, however, that the original targets were not fulfilled. (iii) The institutional position of the planning organization within the government structure has changed seven times in the years 1961-·68. This has hampered considerably its internal effec- tiveness and its authority 1dth respect to the other ministries and public entities. (iv) The present staff of the Ministry of Planning is qualified but its number is inadequate as compared to the tasks it is asked to perform. Some unsuccessful efforts t-Jere made in the past by the Secretary General of the Ministry to obtain the transfer of personnel from other ministries. ( v) The Statistics Directorate uhich is part of the 14lnistry of Planning is li'ell established and managed and, eoneidering the resources it commands, the present availability of statistical data should be considered satisfactory. Yet, as p1anning deve1ops, new resources vdll have to be allocated. (vi) At the present time the plan and budget organizations are not geared to work closely together, therefore the plan-budget coordination is more formal than substantive, both in the fields of investment and of recurrent expenditure. 2. If the Dahomean Government considers planning, not as a one-time exercise -- for the preparation of a plan document -- but as a continuous process to improve decision-making for optimizing the use of scarce human and financial resources and the establishment of a suitable machinery for its implementation, then the following course of action should be considered~ (i) extending the validity of the 1966-70 plan to allow the neces- sary time for the elaboration of the nm11 plan from within the country and with the minimum necessary foreign technical assis- tance. (Depending on circumstances (a) the nmi' plan may be  - ii - delayed by some 12 months, and (b) some more time and resources would therefore be available to implen.ent the original targets of the 1966-70 plan.); (ii) readjusting the original targets of the 1966-70 plan according to the degree of implementation, the present availability of resources and medium-term forecast for the economy; (iii) identifying projects to be implemented in the various sectors and establishing inter- and intra-sectoral priorities; (iv) coordinating the national budget with the investment programs with the provisions for recurrent expenditure and with the foreign aid resources forecasts; {v) reconsidering the present position of the plan organization within the government machinery and studying possible changes with a view to increasing its effectiveness and its coordi- nation with the budget machiner.r; (vi) establishing an appropriate machinery for the coordination of both financial aid inflows and technical assistance with the implementation of the development pla..'1. of the country; (vii) examining ways of mobilizing the existing qualified human resources, both in the central administration and in the regions; (viii) organizing appropriate sectoral and regional planning commissions. The consequences of adopting the above-mentioned approach would be: {i) to take full advantage of the 1966-70 plan document, which should be considered as a starting point for the elabora- tion of the nev; plan, thereby ensuring the necessary continuity in action; (ii) to allow the necessary time span to get everybody involved in the planning process both in the central administration and in the regions so as to facilitate the subsequent adop- tion and implementation phases of the plans; (iii) to allow the staff of the Ministry of Planning and of the other ministries to gain training and experience by work- ing in close cooperation rdth such foreign technical assis- tance experts as are recruited.  - iii - 3. On the assumption that the Dahomean Government accepts the validity of the above analysis of the past planning experience in the country and the suggested course of action, the follmv.ing stages in the elaboration of the new plan can be indicated. A detailed indication of the calendar of operations and the job description of individual experts required cannot be given on the basis of the presently available information. Some of the functions will be performed concurrently; the stages should not be consid- ered as consecutive. Stage 1 - Collecting information stage 2 - Preparation of the report on the execution of the 1966-70 plan Stage 3 - Preparation of an annual public sector investment budget Stage 4- Formulating the broad guidelines of the country 1 s socio-economic development during the na.r medium- term plan period Stage S- Preparation of sectoral chapters for the medium-term plan Stage 6 - Organizing of regional development seminars, commissions and delegates Stage 7 - Elaborating a draft medium-term plan and submitting it for legislative approval Stage 8 - Setting up programming units in the technical ministries Stage 9 - ~fuchinery for the evaluation of plan implementation Stage 10- Machinery for the review of the pl.an The approach to planning vrhich 1>Till be adopted by the Dahomean Government uill decide the type of technical assistance tvhich will ultimately be required, yet the basic aim should be to have the Dahomean officials pre- pare and be responsible for their mm plan.  - 1 - I. THE PLANNING EXPERIENCE Economic Planning was established by legislation {Loi No. 61-S4) adopted on December 31, 1961. According to this legislation, the country would have consecutive five-year development plans and there would be planning commissions for the preparation of the plan. A. The Plans 1• Elaboration (i) The first plan ( 1962-6S) was prepared for a four-year period only. It was the work of two foreign consulting firms {SEMA and SOGEP, France). {ii) The second five-year plan of 1966-70 was also prepared by a team of foreign experts provided by the French and European technical assistance programs {FAC - Fond d'Aide et de Cooperation; FED - Fonds European de Developpement) with participation from local staff of the planning organization. The tfork had to be done in less than a year. 'Ibis time constraint hampered the work of the Commissions (national and regional, sectoral and horizontal) which had been set up at the time with the aim to allow the largest possible participation of all sections of the population in the plan preparation exercise. (iii) The third five-year plan should theoretically be completed by December 31 , 1 970. 2. Reports on Implementation The Ministry of Planning has made two surveys in the past on plan execution. An extensive one was made in 1968, over 1967 performance, with direct visits by teams to all the regions of the country. A document was prepared, but its publication delayed; it was due at the end of December 1969. A similar survey was done in 1969, on 1968 performance, and was in the process of elaboration at the end of 1969. There were, in the 1966-70 plan, a number of physical targets which were related to the following financial allocations of investment by sectors: agriculture, manufacturing and tourism - 47%; productive inf'rastructure and services {transport, com- merce, etc.) - 3.5%; social and administrative inf'rastruct.ure {urban devel- opment, education, etc.) - 1B%. The total projected amount of investment for the period was CFAF 3.5 .3 billion, v1hich included CFAF 9.6 billion from private sources. While no official data on the degree of execution of the plan are available, it appears that the original targets were not ful.filled. B. The Ministry of Planning 1• Authori t;r The present Ministry of Planning is the seventh "institutional incarnation" of the planning machinery in Dahomey. Such numerous changes -- once a year on an average in the period 1961-68 -- hampered considerably the status and authority of the planning organization with respect to the other ministries. Moreover, the fact that in the last set-up no minister was actually appointed and the President of the Republic held the portfolio,  - 2 - left the Secretary General of the !ti.nistry in a considerably weak position vis-a-vis the other ministries. The greatest evidence is given by the fact that, while in principle the Ministry was responsible for all investments financed through foreign aid, it has happened more than once that direct negotiations have occurred between technical ministries and the sources of foreign financing. Also the stage of project study and project preparation has escaped the control of the Ministry. Under these circumstances, and with no permanent and tv-ell-established correspondents in the technical min- istries (created by Decree 286/30/8/67, Article 18), it has been practically impossible for the Secretary General of the rttnistry to infiuence the execu- tion of the plan. 2. Distribution of Personnel The complaints of the Secretary General of the 11i.nistry of Planning on the inadequacy of its present staff as compared to the tasks it is asked to perform are justified. The Ministry of Planning has, in fact, a number of routine administrative functions which tend to absorb more of the time of its professional staff. Under the present structure the Ministry includes two directorates: planning and statistics. (i) Planning Directorate The Planning Directorate is divided into five sub-directorates (studies, programs, human resources, regional planning, and finan- cing) with a total staff of only eight Dahomean officials of whom five are the sub-directors, assisted by three foreign experts. The sub-directors now in office have good academic background and some of them have participated in the 1966-70 plan elaboration exercise. According to the Dahomean officials 1 estimates, an additional professional staff of some 12-15 persons would be neces- sary to carry out the tasks at present assigned to the Ministry by Decree 286 of August 30, 1967. However, in ~ite of the overstaff- ing of the civil service in general, there have been difficulties in transferring civil servants required for the adequate function- ing of the Ministr.v of Planning. The Ministry of Civil Service (!Vlinistere de la Fonction Public} is trying to introduce needed reforms. (ii) Statistics Directorate The staff of the statistical office is 30, which includes employees of the provincial, as well as the central, offices. The present structure consists of three sub-directorates ( demog- raphy and production, economy and finances, national accounts and current economic indicators} but a new, more elaborate structure is envisaged with si:x: sub-directorates (to be created}, two pro- vincial offices already in existence (Paraku and Abomey} with possible extension to other provinces, specialized sectoral offices in the ministries (Education in existence, Labor to be set up}.  - 3 - According to Dahomean officials' estimates, there is no lack of high-level personnel and all the responsible positions are held by Dahomeans. There is a shortage of middle-level personnel ( H Agents-Statistiques 11 ) and the possibility of setting up a local course for this type of personnel, using the higher officials as instructors, is being considered. C. Data Availability 'lrJh:ile the time available to the mission allowed only a very prelim- inary assessment of the statistical apparatus of Dahomey, different secon- dary sources all agree that (i) the Statistics Directorate of the Ministry of Planning is well-managed and, considering the resources it can command, it is doing a good work. The last population census was taken in 1961; since then several sample surveys have been done showing quite a good picture of the present situation including some ideas on the occupational structure of the population. (ii) The r/finistry of Agriculture and SONADER collect and publish data regularly. The industry, transport and public sectors report on a fairly regular and detailed basis. (iii) Foreign trade statistics under-enumerates the position sine e smuggling is reported to be quite substantial. (iv) There are a number of difficulties on pub- lic finance data because of the recent introduction of some computer facil- ities which had not been entirely satisfactorily prepared. (v) As regards national accounts a revised series have been prepared for the years 1964, 196.5 and 1966 and the contract of the UN expert, which has greatly contrib- uted to the accomplishment of this valuable work, is due to be extended through 1970 to enable the preparation of 1968 and 1969 national accounts series. D. The Plan and the Budget A specially acute problem arises in the relation of the Ministry of Planning and the Directorate of the Budget in the Ministry of Finance of which the planning was at one time a directorate. The Budget being divided into two parts - current and investment - the 1atter shou1d ideaJ.1y be tightly related to the plan. This is unfortunately, as in many other coun- tries, not the case. The B.E.I. (Budget d'Equipement et d'Investissement) is not the annual presentation of those projects (both na-1 and under way) which l-dll be financed during the year by both foreign and internal resources. 1. The Elaboration of the Investment Budget The procedure for the B .E .I. preparation is formally as follows: (a) the requests are submitted directly to the Director of the Budget from the technical ministries, but no global ceiling figure is given in advance to the ministries; (b) the examination of the compatibility between the requests of the ministries and the targets of the plan and the set- ting of project priorities thereafter is done jointly by the Director of the Budget and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Planning;  - 4- (c) the budget is finalized for approval of the Council of I"fi.nisters in a series of sessions of a "Budgetary Com- mission11 composed of the I1inister of Finance, the tech- nical minister concerned, the Director of the Budget and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Planning. At present the plan-budget coordination L'Step (b) abovi/ is more formal than substantive. Technical assistance advice was obtained in 1969 to establish new procedures which, among other things, would allow a coor- dination of the plan and the budget on both the resource and expenditure sides. 2. Control of Budget Execution The ex-post control over the budget implementation is regulated and a publication of accounts of expenditure is prepared by the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for government payments. Unfortunately, the last available data are those of 1966. The accounts for the following years are being held up by computer management difficulties. This situation is hampering the work of the Budget Direc- torate and of the MinistTlr of Planning in their efforts to control the execution of public investment and thus ensure the necessary continuity of the activities and the appropriate allocation of resources.  -s- II. POSSIBLE CHANGES IN THE PLANNING AND GOVERNMENT MACHINERY A. Plan Organization Among the previously experimented institutional arrangements, the planning organization was twice made into an integral part of the Ministry of Finance; twice attached directly to the Presidency of the Republic under the fom. of "Haut Commissariat" (once including tourism); once assigned directly to the Vice President and once attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (under the rationale that the plan depended, for its execution, on foreign aid) • The changes made in regard to the place of the planning machinery in the Government have weakened its position, and other changes might have no better effect. Also no new institutional change will improve the pres- ent system if it rests merely upon a government decree and is not followed up by a political will to rea.lly introduce planning as a government practice. The question as to whether there should be an independent ministry of plan- ning is basically political. It :rrru.st be pointed out that the ministerial rank, held provisionally by the President, has not added to the effective- ness of planning in Dahomey. It would require further careful study of the causes of failure in the previous institutional arrangements before recommendations for any change could be made. Personality factors, political and economic conditions of the country will have to be borne in mind to make the analysis meaningful, with regard to the past, the present and the future. Yet the purpose of any change would be: 1. to increase the authority of the planning organization within the government machinery and improve its relation with the technical ministries; 2. to establish a functional link between the planning and the budgetary functions including the investment and recurrent expenditure aspects; 3. to provide an adequate tool for an effective coordination of foreign aid programs so that the financial inflows and the technical assistance component will be geared to the investment program of the country. B. Programming Units Getting planning to be a modus-operandi of the Dahomean Government rests, for a good part, on the acceptance of the planning methods by the technical ministries. A first step would be putting into effect the already mentioned decree which foresees the appointment of a "correspondent" to the Ministry of Planning from each ministry, and changing these corre- spondents as cireumstanc es parmitted into programming units. Each program- ming unit would be made responsible for all the dealings of the Ministey (or  / - 0 - independent agency) on both the planning and budgetary aspects of the work of the agency. These units would have as their major task the coordination and control of all the financial aspects of the agency's activities, and the handling in a centralized manner of its dealings with the Ministries of Finance and Planning. The appropriate status and staffing of each unit in each agency should be provided so that their functioning would be facil- itated. If the above suggestions were accepted, a detailed study of each agency's problems and structures would be necessary to adjust them to the specific needs of the different organizations of the Dahomean Government. C. Central Projects Bureau As regards project preparation, the relatively small dimension of the investment program for each sector, on the one hand, and the scarcity of qualified manpower, on the other, suggest the setting up of a central projects bureau on the lines of similar bureaus experienced in other coun- tries might apply to the case of Dahomey. A central projects bureau 't·Tould not attempt to undertake all project preparation on its own but would pro- vide the specialized knowledge, both teclmical and economic, to be used in cooperation vdth the technical and local knowledge available in individual technical ministries. In addition to its executive and advisory responsi- bilities, the central projects bureau would help to train staff needed for the programming units operating at the ministry's level. A central projects bureau would advise technical ministries on the standards and methods to be adopted in project preparation and, where necessary, would help in the actual preparation. It would also be instrmnental in preparing all tenns of reference, both for internal study and for guiding consulting firms, which might be used by either the projects bureau itself or by individual technical ministries. This bureau should be located in the planning organization wherever that is located.  - 7 - III. THE PREPARATION OF THE THIRD PLAN A preliminary condition for examining an alternative course of action, from the one followed in the previous planning experience, would be that the Govern.'llent accepts to extend the validity of the present five-year plan. The extension of the plan period would be justified by the fact that while the basic objectives of the plan were never rejected as inappropriate by the suc- cessive governments, the human and financial resources available did not allow the fulfilment of the original targets according to schedule. Once the Govern- ment has allowed itself the necessary time, the new approach can be envisaged which will enable the fullest local participation in the plan preparation. This should extend to the public administration and to the private sector. The following actions should be foreseen. A. Stock-Taking A comprehensive stock-taking operation is a necessary tool for the preparation of the next plan. In a questionnaire addressed in November 1968 by the President of the Republic to all the ministries, such an operation had been initiated; it should have been completed by February 1969, but unfortunately by the end of that year the results were not satisfactory because of the lack of qualified personnel to handle the study and the v.rork and of response from the ministries. It would probably be interesting to reactivate the questionnaire as the approach was quite comprehensive. It included both investments and studies under four categories: (i) completed, (ii) implementation under way, (iii) already financed but implementation not started, (iv) envisaged but lacking financing. A special questionnaire had been prepared to collect data on recurrent expenditure covering personnel, maintenance, materials and amortization. To complete this stock-taking operation satisfactorily, a special cooperative arrangement should be en- visaged between the Ministry of Planning and the technical ministries whereby help would be provided by the former to the latter for the creation of the Programming Units which are part of the proposed institutional reform. B. Commissions There seems to be no other more expedient way to get the various responsible officials and leaders in the provinces and in the center plarm.ing-oriented, both in the public and private sectors, except through the regional, sectoral and overall connnissions. In the case of Dahomey the working procedures should be simplified and the number of commissions should be kept limited. This methodological approach would not be new for Dahomey, as it was already adopted in 1965 for the preparation of the 1966-70 plan. But that first experience was not satisfactory as the work of the commissions was severely impeded by the time limits which had been imposed for the plan preparation work. In the case of the new plan, the basic working documents for the commissions should be the sectoral and regional results of the above- mentioned stock-taking operation, together with broad guidelines of the coun- try's economic development over the next 4-5 year period. These documents would have to be prepared by the central planning organization which would also provide a permanent secretariat for the commissions. On this basis, the new targets for the plan could be elaborated and discussed both as regards the inclusion of new projects and their financial implications.  - 8- C. Format It would be advantageous, for further practical purposes of implementation, to incorporate in the plan document proper a list of all projects which are in the course of implementation or envisaged in the form of a comprehensive multiannual public sector investment programs. The projects would be classified by sector according to their priorities, and giving for each of them a multi-year schedule of implementation. The existing or potential sources of financing (internal or external) both for the capital investment and the foreseen recurrent ex:penditure should also be specified for each project. This presentation should subsequently enable a coordination of the plan and the budget and should facilitate solving the present problems of compatibility. This may also be a practical way to intro- duce a planning approach into the administration 1 s way of operations and, by using an existing and well-established tool -- the Budget (recurrent and capital) -- modernize its preparation, and improve its usefulness as a means to enhance the economic policy of the country.  - 9 .. IV. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAN' PREPARATION A. Principles and l1ethotiSJ The approach to pla:nning which will be adopted by the Dahomean Government will determine the type of technical assistance which will be ultimately required. Assuming that the course of action outlined in the previous paragraphs will be accepted, the follotdng principles should be applied in organizing the technical assistance program: (a) The basic aim is to have the Dahomean officials prepare and be responsible for their own plan. (b) The number of foreign experts should be kept to a minimum and in any event should be compatible with the number of available Dahomean counterparts. (c) The foreign experts should be structurally integrated within the Ministry of Planning, but should be allotil'ed to have .f'lex- ible working relations with any other public or private entity as necessary to the accomplishment of their work. (d) The experts should not, in general, confine themselves to only the study of a given subject and the preparation of a report at the end of their mission, but participate actively and in an integrated manner in the planning function, limiting them- selves, as much as possible, to the advisory function and to training activity. (e) To allow the foreign technical assistance personnel to perform its function, as indicated above, the contracts should not be limited, in most cases, to the plan preparation function and should extend in time to the evaluation of the implementation phase, thus contributing to the setting up of a permanent plan- ning cycle and to the necessary administrative strucutre for its implementation which includes the preparation, evaluation of execution and the revision of the plan. B. Stages and Functions While a detailed indication of the calendar of operations and the job description of individual experts cannot be given on the basis of the presently available information, it is nevertheless possible to indicate broadly the stages and functions of the work to be performed. Some of the functions will be performed at the same time; the stages should not be con- sidered as following necessarily each other. A detailed and realistic schedule of operation would have to be established. Stage 1 - Collecting Information (a) The collection of information on the implementation of the 1966-70 plan should be done on the lines of the already issued questionnaire (November 1968) eventually revised.  .. 10 - (b) All available information on sectoral investment programs in existence and on their implementation should be collected from the teclmical ministries. (c) Information on individual projects (feasibility studies and/or implementation reports) should be sought from the teclmical ministries or public entities, sometimes via the questiomaire mentioned in (a). (d) The collection of statistical information required should be organized at the sectoral and regional level. In this phase the technical assistance experts will have to strengthen the staff of the Hinistry of Planning, namely, the 11 Sous-direction des programmes"; they will also assist directly according to their specific needs each of the technical ministries and public entities from which the information is required. The latter function may include seminars to explain the aims and methods for the c:;llection of information to the appropriate officials of the technical ministries and public entities and then continue by assisting each of them in their Otm work. §!:age 2 - Preparation of the Report on the Execution of the 1966-70 Plan On the basis of the information collected in the surveys of 1968 and 1969 (mentioned in an earlier section of this report) and of the information collected in Stage 1 above, a detailed report should be prepared, sector by sector, on the execution of the plan, by following the pattem of the second part of the 1966-?0 development plan document, "Les obj ectifs et equipements sectoriels" and in:iicating which parts of each sector program are still to be executed, the degree of advancement of the necessary studies and projects identified, prepared, finar~ced, in the process of being executed. The work of analysis and synthesis will have to be performed jointly by the Ministry of Planning and the I1inistry of Finance. The technical assistance experts will have to participate in the organization of the work according to the specific needs of the two mir.istries. Stage 3 - Preparation of an Annual Public Sector Investment Budget On the basis of the information collected under Stage 2 above, namely, on the projects, an annual public sector investment budget should be jointly prepared by the Hinistry of Planning and the Hi.nistry of Finance. This would g1ve a detailed and yet global view of the commitments of the government in both financial and technical resources for the first year with extension to two or three years ahead, according to the schedule of implemen- tation of each of the existLng projects • • Stage 4 -Formulating the Broad Guidelines of the CountrY's Socio- Economic Development during the Next Medium-Term Plan Period The work should be based on a revision, in the light of Stage 2 above, of parts I and III of the 1966-70 development plan (Les perspectives du developpement - Moyens et conditions de realisation) taking into account the  - 11 - basic objectives of the previous plan, revised where necessary. Both Ministries (Planning and Finance) should work closely on this document, with the cooperation of technical assistance experts. It should be sub- mitted to the Government for approval before giving it to the commissions as working document. Staf!:e 2- Preparation of Sectoral Chapters for the Medium-Term Plan In the light of the ansuers received to the questionnaires and of the information collected in Stage 1 , taking into account the broad perspec- tives of development of the country's economy as defined in Stage 4, sectoral commissions and subcommissions will be set to work with the participation of technicians from the ministries and the public and private sector, the secre- tariat and organization being the responsibility of the Ministry of Planning, assisted in this task by the technical assistance experts. A technical dele- gate from each one of the six regions (departements) should participate in the work of the sectoral commissions. Stage 6 - Organizing Regional Development Seminars, Commissions and Delegates Depending on the degree of staffing of the regional offices of the technical ministries, a series of short seminars should be conducted, with staff from the Ministry of Planning and technical assistance experts, to explain to responsible officials in the d~artments the results of Stage 4 above, the meaning of the elaboration of the new plan and its relation to the annual public investment budget and supporting the setting up of local commissions which, if created, might participate in the discussion and elaboration of the sectoral plans and could instruct and designate a dele.. gate to r~resent them at the central government level (see Stage 5 above). These commissions should not be dissolved at the time of the plan publication - as was the case in 1966 - but should be continually RUpported from the Ministry of Planning and function as part of the permanent planning implementation, evaluation and revision system (see Stage 10 below). Stage 7 - Elaborating a Draft Medium-term Plan and Submitting it for Legislative Approval The work will consist of a revision of Stage 4 and Stage 5 and the setting up of an interministerial planning committee which will have to establish intersectoral and interregional priorities and, in cooperation • with technical assistance experts, the Ministry of Planning will be respon- sible for the elaboration of the document to be submitted to the Government for final examination and legislative approval • • Stage 8 - Setting up Programming Units in the Technical Ministries In order to maintain and strengthen, in a coordinated manner, the liaison between the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Finance and the technical ministries, and to ensure the following up of the planning exercise in the project preparation, the control of execution and the  - 12 .. elaboration of comprehensive annual public investment budgets, the technical assistance experts should develop, on the basis of the individual experience, structure and starr of each ministry, a system of progra.nmi.ng units. These would have as their basic tasks: (a) preparing lists of projects to be submitted for priority scrutiny and evaluation during the plan preparation exercise; (b) preparing detailed schedules of implementation of approved projects for inclusion in the yearly investment budget; (c) following up, with the cooperation of the technicians and the financial statements of the Treasury, the actual stage of implementation of the agencies' programs and revising accordingly the yearly breakdown to be included in the investment budget, as well as the necessary appropriations for recurrent expenditure, occurring after the project's completion and to be requested from the current budget. Stage 9 - Evaluation of Plan ImPlementation The Ministries of Planning and Finance, with the cooperation of technical assistance experts should set up a coordinated reporting system whereby a systematic annual assessment of the plan implementation could be obtained. Stage 10 - Machinery for the Review of the Plan On the basis of the result of Stage 9, the review of the medium· term plan in the light of implementation results and resources and projects forecasts should be carried out around the middle of the plan period • •