ISLAMABAD, April 26: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will soon release a much-delayed $80 million last tranche of the Pakistan’s Access to Justice Programme.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Pakistan Development Forum, ADB vice-president Liqun Jin said the bank had been satisfied with the implementation of the $350 million programme.
He said the ADB was not considering any further financing to the second phase of the project that had been delayed substantially. "We do not have any programme at the moment to fund the follow-up project of the Access to Justice Programme."
After analysing the outcome of the programme once it gets completed, the ADB would consider whether or not to provide further funding, he said. He said Pakistan faced two major challenges -- energy security and water security -- to maintain its economic growth between six and eight per cent in the years to come. However, the issue of current account deficit and inflationary pressure facing the country would be addressed with the passage of time as the economy moves on.
Mr Jin said his hope was based on the fact that the government was very much alive to these problems and was making moves to overcome these bottlenecks which might hamper the economic growth. He said that exports had started picking up which was encouraging.
He said the ADB was currently financing up to $6.02 billion worth of 80 ongoing projects in Pakistan, adding that most of the projects were up to the mark and were delivering results. However, he said there might be delays in some of the component of a few projects but the ADB preferred to look at the desired results than the financing.
Reuters adds: The ADB said it planned to provide up to $3 billion for various infrastructure projects in Pakistan in 2007, doubling the amount loaned last year.
