ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Major international donor agencies, led by the World Bank, have indicated to make available an additional $800 million or ‘even more’ as sought by President Pervez Musharraf, but want the government to address concerns about corruption in the quake-affected parts of the NWFP and AJK.
“Certainly there is a scope for corruption considering such a huge reconstruction task and this requires strict and regular monitoring by the government agencies concerned,” Mr John Wall, Country Director of the World Bank, said in Islamabad.
However, he said, there was not much noise about corruption keeping in view the massive reconstruction work spread over many years. “The problem is being faced in the housing sector where the role of revenue officers, district officers and other officials concerned is all the more important to ensure that there is no corruption involved,” Mr Wall said.
Generally, he said, things were moving in the right direction and international donor agencies and government functionaries were cooperating to mitigate the suffering of the quake survivors.
Answering a question, he said that the World Bank which had earlier pledged $1 billion was planning to offer another $400 million for reconstruction. “Besides grants, we and other international lenders would extend more financial resources,” he said.
Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Secretary Khalid Saeed said so far $2.6 billion, which also included grants and assistance given in kind, had been disbursed by donor agencies and bilateral donors. “There is no delay in disbursement,” he said, adding that Pakistan was providing details of various projects and was getting funding from donor agencies. Most of the funds, he said, were in the shape of soft loans.
Asked whether the government had asked the donors to convert the remaining funds into grants, he said negotiations were going on.
Mr Wall said since housing had become expensive in the quake-hit areas, donors believed that the government needed to be supported through additional funds.
He said the government had signed about 500,000 memorandums of understanding with individuals, suppliers and contractors and under such circumstances the element of corruption could not be ruled out.
“And that is why we are also monitoring things in association with the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) to see that everything goes well,” he said.
The government, he pointed out, needed to ensure periodic meetings of all the agencies concerned to remove certain apprehensions and accelerate the reconstruction work both in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the NWFP.
He was of the view that Erra should take action if irregular payments were made to survivors and that the issue should be taken up seriously. “That is why we say that regular provisions of monitoring are required.”
Like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also shown willingness to offer additional funds as requested by President Musharraf.
“The ADB is in the process of finalising additional support of $83 million from bilateral donors for earthquake affected areas,” said a Bank’s update about earthquake.
It said that agreements had been signed with Finland for $12 million and with Australia for $15 million. An agreement with the government of Norway for $20 million had been finalised, and an agreement with the European Union for an amount of $33 million was expected to be finalised soon. The grants from Finland, Australia and Norway would mainly focus on augmenting education sector support through construction of additional schools and on technical assistance in social protection such as the provision of free legal aid to the most vulnerable.
ADB would extend its financial and technical support in line with the November 19, 2005, commitment made by President Kuroda to provide $1 billion in the form of concessional loans and grants to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. “This will be complemented by provision of technical and human resource support in key sectors. The two key areas of ADB’s future focus will be housing and education where funding gaps of $1.4 billion and $800 million exist, respectively.”
ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Major international donor agencies, led by the World Bank, have indicated to make available an additional $800 million or ‘even more’ as sought by President Pervez Musharraf, but want the government to address concerns about corruption in the quake-affected parts of the NWFP and AJK.
