QUETTA, Sept 28: Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz will discuss the release of Rs5.8 billion loan for Balochistan Public Sector Development Programme with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) representatives.

Senior Minister for Planning and Development Maulana Abdul Wasay claimed on Sunday that Mr Aziz had assured them that he would take up the matter with the ADB officials.

The senior minister, while talking to reporters on his arrival from Islamabad after attending a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), said Balochistan could not implement the PSDP for the fiscal year 2003-4 if monetary help was not extended well in time.

Maulana Wasay said he and the provincial finance minister, Syed Ehsan Shah, met Mr Aziz in Islamabad and informed him that Balochistan’ s PSDP depended on the ADB assistance and the Centre should play its role.

He said that the federal minister assured them that the matter would be discussed with the ADB officials to expedite the process of granting the loan to Balochistan.

The senior minister stated that the release of funds amounting to 400 million announced by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for gas pipeline for Kalat and Ziarat was also discussed and Mr Aziz gave assurance that funds for it would be released soon.

Replying to a question regarding the opposition members for neglecting them in the PSDP, Maulana Wasay said that in the joint meeting of the opposition and government the actual position presented.

He claimed the opposition members in the coastal belt were allocated more funds compared to the finance minister who hailed from the same zone.