Close the ‘deal’

Many years ago, while participating as a redoubtable agent in a negotiation, I was advised by an august personality to “close the deal”. At that point in time, this adroit advice was summarily ignored, simply because it was not beneficial to agree upon lopsided terms. However, the moment the discussion moved onto favourable grounds, not a second was wasted in inking the John Hancock at the bottom. Ever since, and perhaps much before, the advantage of closing the deal immediately when objectives are met has been a favoured course of action.
In general, the idiom ‘close the deal’, to formally conclude bargaining, is associated with corporate deals, more specifically with the world of finance. However, its application transcends equally and critically to dealings in general. And while the cognoscenti will disagree with the application of the idiom to closure of anything else other than negotiations, for today’s subject, the idiom is sapient. The importance of closure is perhaps better understood by the famous, much used but hardly appreciated quote of Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Unfortunately, closure is something that systematically eludes Pakistan in every endeavour. Even while conceiving this write-up, a journalist friend quite coincidentally called to discuss the troubles with banking foreclosure laws in Pakistan; the trouble with foreclosures is exactly that they never close. In a country where property disputes can take forever, what chance do banks have with foreclosures, which is the primary reason that banks only lend to the government or people who do not need money in the first place? What is even more amazing is that inspite of the fact that most of the country’s capital stock — its land and property — is without clear title, the state has not made any move to improve the impediments in quick resolution of Dewani litigations. Protection of property rights is the fundamental building block of capitalism; how there can be economic growth without timely closure of property disputes is an enigma the government seems unwilling to address.
But before forging ahead, a clarification is needed. By default, the idiom ‘closing the deal’ is suggestive of an urgency in arriving at closure. As Keynes would put it, “In the long run we are all dead”; eventually, all deals reach closure but then it is too late.
How apt is the nation in closure is demonstrated by its track record; rarely has an infrastructure project in Pakistan been completed on time. The delays cost the country dearly and not only in terms of money. There is perhaps not a single mega project that has been completed on time and in all cases the contractors are granted escalations rather than imposing liquidated damages. Either Pakistan is the most popular country for force majeure or one of the contenders for being the worst at monitoring and supervising infrastructure projects. Perhaps choice of contractors –mostly Chinese — has a lot to do with it and, if that is the case, the economic corridor will not become a reality in this lifetime.
The list of dream projects that supposedly could have changed Pakistan’s destiny but never achieved closure is long and depressive. It would be mellifluous if Gwadar finally becomes the trading hub between the east and the west, if Thar coal deposits could eventually be exploited to transit Pakistan from an energy importing nation to an exporter of energy and if all that gold and copper could be mined in Reko Diq. But all that is a big if.
An assiduous researcher will be in a better position to calculate the average length of time taken for power projects to achieve financial closure and arrive at the commercial operation date in Pakistan but, shooting from the hip, the findings will certainly not be encouraging. Load shedding has been the talk of the nation for a decade and an end still remains out of sight.
Even in the private sector, completing projects in time is a bridge too far, especially in the case of real estate development. Across major cities there are numerous high-rise buildings, in varying stages of completion, seemingly sitting there for years on end taunting all and sundry. Such real estate projects involve public interest and the concerned regulators’ inaction against developers for inordinate delays is rather baffling.
Corruption is the most coruscating failure of governance. Considering the short memories most Pakistanis can brag about, perhaps that is a fait accompli that the nation deserves. While the media deserves accolades for exposing mega corruption scandals regularly, in the very same breath it needs to be censured for not following them through. Necessarily, corruption is designed so as not to leave an audit trail but in a country hovering around the top in world rankings of nations plagued by corruption, not succeeding in ever punishing a single big fish is rather embarrassing.
Political meandering can at least claim immunity from closure, citing the argument that by design they are just that: ramblings. The twin dharnas (sit-ins) went on for months with an exit strategy unclear from the very beginning. And while the deal is closed on the judicial commission, keep fingers crossed. However, if being political is the essence of politics, principles will always be up for sale. Perhaps this criticism is unfair in a field where the virtuoso is expected to be political. This realisation, however, does not bode well for the current cleanup operation in the economic nerve centre of the nation; it will linger on until it becomes a far memory.
Glaringly, the only time Pakistan is able to close the deal is when borrowing more money, which again viewed from the perspective of achieving economic stability is hardly a closure. Perhaps it is time for public opinion to be moulded towards demanding that the government focus on closing projects rather than promising fresh initiatives that will add to the ever growing list of ‘deals’ that never close. Setting milestones and constant monitoring of projects in the pipeline and doing what it takes to achieve completion and closure is what can differentiate this government from its predecessors and perhaps close the deal for them in the next election.

The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. He can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com and on twitter @leaccountant