ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The government in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank has launched a $23 million technical assistance programme as part of an initiative to promote the process of decentralization.

The $23 million ‘technical assistance (phase-1) for local government performance enhancement’ is a component of the decentralization support programme (DSP), under which the ADB would give a loan of $300 million to the government to help it make the decentralization process a success.

An open forum was held on Saturday on bidding for the DSP investment programmes to provide an opportunity to public and private sector capacity-building institutions to have a perception of the initiative, its vision and scope of operations.

The project aims at improving the efficiency of the local government system.

The first phase of the annual work plan for the current financial year has been approved and is now being launched.

The National Programme Support Office (NPSO), the executing body for the DSP projects, and its four provincial wings have prepared 37 projects in the first phase of the programme, focusing on capacity building and system support to the local governments.

The proposals with a total cost of Rs229 million include seven national projects, eight in Punjab, eight in Sindh, nine in the NWFP and five in Balochistan.

They cover capacity building for budgeting, audit, accounts; strengthening the provincial finance commissions and local government commissions; monitoring committees; development of financial rules and analysis of the reforms process.

The projects will be implemented by both the public and private sectors.

The NPSO and its provincial wings will award contracts to the institutions.

It will invite expressions of interest from the interested parties to execute the projects, followed by the short-listing of potential service providers. —APP