PESHAWAR, Nov 18: Asian Development Bank has warned the NWFP government it may have to finance the $100 million Barani Area Development Project out of its own resources if it does not reconsider the proposed replacement of the current project director by an incumbent minister.

A senior ADB official told Dawn the NWFP government had been asked to submit in writing why it wanted to replace the officer in charge of the NWFP Barani Area Development Project.

He said that the ADB’s concern was also conveyed to the NWFP Governor, Lt-Gen Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah during his meeting with senior bank officials in Islamabad on Monday.

The $100 million Barani Area Development Project is jointly funded by the ADB and International Fund for Agricu-ltural Development (IFAD).

The NWFP government appointed Masood Bangash as project direct on a three-year contract about a year ago through open competition as enunciated in the loan agreement. The government however, now wants to replace him by the incumbent minister for food and agriculture, Abeedullah Jan in violation of the agreement.

The 66-year-old Abeedullah Jan is a forester by qualification and had retired as inspector general, forests, before joining the present government. He had earlier confirmed to Dawn that he was a candidate for the post.

In a letter addressed to the NWFP government, a copy of which has been provided to Dawn, the ADB says: “We are concerned with this development and cannot agree with the replacement on the grounds that:

1) Both the federal and provincial governments are in transition and any move to replace key project staff during the transition, when the implementation of the project is about to take-off, is not in the interest of the project.

2) That the ADB Country Portfolio Review Mission has identified frequent changes of the project directors as one of the issues that adversely impact project implementation and therefore CPRM reached an understanding with the government that project directors are to be retained for at least three years

The ADB has taken the view that the current project director was recruited after substantial delays following competitive selection procedure as a condition of loan effectiveness; therefore, his replacement should also be recruited following competitive selection procedure.

“The person who replaces the current PD must be equal or better qualified and should have in particular ADB project implementation experience.

We do not support unilateral replacement of the PD with a person whose project-related experience cannot match the present incumbent’s experience and who is not familiar with ADB guidelines and procedures.”

In a letter addressed to the NWFP government, IFAD’s Country Portfolio (Asia & Pacific Division) Youssef Attig expressed similar ‘concern’ over the move and recalled that under the terms of the loan agreement the project director was appointed for a minimum period of three years and that his qualification should be acceptable to IFAD.

“No appointment can take place until it is submitted to the IFAD for review and acceptance and in any case we would not appreciate changing the project director at this initial stage when the project has just started moving.”

The ADB official, who requested not to be named, said the matter came up for discussion in the Monday meeting. “The matter was certainly discussed,” said the official.

He said that the NWFP government had been told to submit in writing the reasons for which it wanted to replace the incumbent director.

The official said that the government wanted to replace the present project director because of the delay in implementation and poor performance. But said the ADB official: “We don’t see any problems with the present project director.”

The official’s view was also endorsed in the letter addressed to the provincial government, wherein, it was clearly stated that the ADB did not consider the performance of the current PD to be such that he needed to be replaced.

Acknowledging that it was the prerogative of the NWFP government to make changes, the ADB official, however, said that any change made outside the loan agreement would be brought to the notice of the ADB headquarters in Manila.