Oct 18 , 2015
News
ADB agrees to provide $1.2 billion to Pakistan for infrastructure uplift
* Major chunk of assistance package will be spent on improving power, transport, agriculture and urban services sectors
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide a $1.2 billion assistance package to Pakistan, the major chunk of which will be spent for improving power, transport, agriculture and urban services sectors, Radio Pakistan reported on Saturday.
According to the agreement, the bank in its new five year partnership strategy with Pakistan will provide the amount annually for infrastructure development and institutional reforms.
Apart from collaborating in rehabilitation of power transmission and distribution systems, construction and repair of highways, ADB will also help rehabilitate the Indus Basin Irrigation System and invest in transport projects in urban centres of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The assistance package will expand the outreach of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), the poverty reduction initiative started by country’s federal government back in 2008.
About 2.4 million women beneficiaries will be added to the programme with the help of this annual assistance package. The incumbent PML-N government which inherited the BISP has already spent Rs 40 billion and have enhanced allocation to Rs 97bn.
Sources in the Finance Division back in April said that during the current fiscal year the government had designed the NISP and enhanced allocations to Rs 118bn — Rs 97bn for the BISP and Rs 21bn for the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme.
The Asian Development Bank will help establish a government-owned disaster risk fund to mitigate risks and enhance resilience to natural disasters. The bank claims to be one of Pakistan’s largest development partners, having provided more than $25 billion in loans, as well as more than $200 million in grants, as of Dec 31, 2014.
This funding has included 316 loans to improve Pakistan’s infrastructure and services, and to support reforms.
In august this year, the bank approved a five-year $6 billion loan for Pakistan to finance development of the nation’s infrastructure, particularly in energy and transportation sectors, though the actual disbursements of the loan will be linked to Islamabad’s ability to implement energy sector reforms and improve its public finances. Absent among the projects being funded were the $14 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam, for which the ADB had allocated just $15 million in technical assistance.
The loan package, set to run through at least the end of fiscal year 2019, would provide the government with an average of $1.2 billion each year for infrastructure development and institutional reforms. Nearly two-thirds of the $6 billion would be a commercial loan, while the remaining one-third will be a concessionary loan. Disbursements were subject to the government’s ability to meet all the conditions attached to the loan agreement.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk