05 October 2004	Tuesday	19 Shaban 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 4: The NWFP government's plan to execute foreign-aided projects, involving downward revised investment of Rs3.2 billion during fiscal 2003-04, has failed to materialize due to a lack of international donor agencies' interest , according to official sources.

Originally, the foreign component of the provincial government's last financial year's annual development programme (ADP) involved a total investment of Rs5.39 billion. Later, the size was brought down to Rs3.2 billion under ADP's revised estimates which were tabled and approved by the provincial legislature in June, 2004, when the provincial government presented the current financial year's budget and the ADP.

Officials said a reduction of Rs2.2 billion had been affected under the revised estimates of the ADP's foreign component after the provincial government realized that it would not be able to raise Rs5.4 billion from the donor agencies for development activities.

According to recent official data, the donor agencies did not release the funds in accordance with the government's downward revised estimates causing a blow to its overall development programme in general and foreign aided projects in particular.

"The government could arrange only Rs1.95 billion for the foreign-aided projects," said an official. Some of the development planners said the figure of Rs5.4 billion- the original size of the ADP's foreign component- had been conveyed to the provincial government by the Centre.

Hence, if the province did not receive the required amount, the federal government would be responsible for it. But some other official sources held the provincial government responsible for the NWFP's failure to get the funds projected under the ADP's foreign component for fiscal 2003-04.

"But this clearly reflects one thing that the donor agencies did not release the funds in total to the NWFP because of its inability to execute the projects at a fast pace during 2003-04," said a development planner.

The funds released for the foreign projects were Rs3.4 billion less than the original size of the ADP's foreign component and Rs1.25 billion less than the revised size of the same.

Development planners believe that the project executing agencies' failure to spend 100 per cent of the amount released to them would further undermine the provincial government's reputation in the eyes of the foreign donor agencies, who have already been unhappy with the government for the slow pace of work.

Against the Rs1.9 billion funds released for the foreign funded projects, Rs1.53 billion could be used leaving the remaining Rs400 million unspent, which is considered harmful for the credibility of the provincial government.

"It leaves bad impact on the donor agencies when you fail to spend the amount you have already released to the project executing agencies," said a finance manager of the province.

This is not for the first time that the government, said the sources, failed to materialize the plan regarding foreign-aided projects. In 2002-03, too, the government had miserably failed to materialize the move.