October 28, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The Asian Development Bank has agreed to fund three major development projects in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan costing $907 million.

“We are currently negotiating the details of these projects with the three provinces so that the ADB’s Board can formally approve them in November”, said the bank’s country director Marshuk Ali Shah on Monday.

He said that $500 million Punjab Resource Management Programme would be launched to implement the Punjab Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper with focus on good governance, including improved public sector resource management. The programme’s key components include reforming provincial finances, reforming processes and institutions for pro-poor service delivery besides creating opportunities for growth and income generation in the province.

“(The bank) will release $200 million as part of the first tranche in 2003 to help undertake this three-year-long programme in Punjab,” he said, adding the cost of the project is about $800 million but the rest of the funding would be provided by the provincial government.

These reforms, he said, would be closely monitored at all levels to ensure fiscal devolution, decentralised social service delivery, financial reporting and auditing and gender reform in Punjab.

Mr Shah said that in Sindh, $220 million devolving of social services programme would be launched during the current year. He said he has already met with Sindh authorities and discussed with them the proposed programme.

The ADB local chief said that the development of the Gwadar- Chaman road at a cost of $187 million is another project expected to be approved by the bank’s board. He said that the ADB had earlier provided technical assistance for finalising the project’s feasibility study.

He said that poverty was one of the main challenges of the government for which ADB was also providing soft-term loans and grants. “These three development projects in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan should greatly help alleviate poverty there”, he believed.

He expressed the hope the upgradation of Pakistan’s credit rating by Moody’s investor service will now help attract foreign investment in the country.

“No doubt, various economic indicators have improved but poverty needs to be checked and adequate foreign investment should come in this part of the world”, the ADB local chief said.

He said that Pakistan could not attain a high level of growth without substantial foreign direct investment and the investment by the local private sector.

“We should not forget that in real terms investment has been static and the government should look into it,” Mr Shah said regretting that the investors are still adhering to wait and see policy which he added was not good for the country’s economy.