ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Pakistan expects the World Bank to provide $5 billion over the next five years for its capacity building, structural reforms and infrastructure support programmes.

Finance minister Shaukat Aziz told the country representative of the World Bank John Wall that under-development in these three sectors signified the key deficiencies the country’s economy was currently facing, resulting in bottlenecks in the growth potential.

The two were reviewing the progress on the WB-funded projects, including $1 billion for the 12 ongoing projects and $2 billion for 16 projects-in-pipeline, at an inter-ministerial meeting here on Wednesday. Representatives of the provincial governments and senior officials of the federal government also attended the meeting.

Mr. Aziz emphasized the need for better coordination with the donors for faster implementation of projects. The meeting noted that the $785 million National Drainage Programme (NDP), held up for over a year, had been moving at a very slow pace. Participants of the meeting stressed the need for expediting the project.

The ongoing projects, which were reviewed, include National Drainage Programme, Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project and PIFRA-I. The projects in pipeline included PIFRA-II, Highway Rehabilitation Project, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund-II, Higher Education Reforms, Tax Reforms, Public Sector Capacity Building and Banking Sector Reforms.

The meeting noted with satisfaction that so far 75 per cent of the committed amount had been disbursed for the ongoing projects. The meeting identified several reasons for slow progress in project implementation and emphasized the need for better coordination among the stakeholders, inter-ministerial and inter provincial rapport.

The meeting called for close supervision and monitoring of the ongoing projects and decided that finance minister should personally preside over such meetings on a quarterly basis for better implementation.

Other projects-in-pipeline are $49 million Sindh On-Farm Water Management for water management improvements and institutional reforms in the irrigation sector which dovetails the NDP.

The World Bank board is tentatively scheduled for the second quarter of fiscal year 2004 to review these projects.

A $56 million Public Sector Capacity Building would focus on broadening professional development, enhancing capacity of key ministries that are in the vanguard of policy reforms, and strengthening their regulatory functions that are increasingly becoming a critical link to the success of economic reforms.

Another $80 million Improvement of Financial Reporting and Auditing II would focus on increasing the accuracy, completeness, reliability and timeliness of public sector financial reports. Project preparation is under way.

In the Public Sector Management a $225 million Tax Administration Reform to build a modern tax system that will be administered effectively and will facilitate and improve voluntary compliance with tax laws is in the pipeline.

Under the Social Protection, a $200 million Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund II would scale up operations of the first Poverty Alleviation Fund project, introducing second generation innovations in the delivery of financial and infrastructure services to the poor.

In the Structural Adjustment areas another $90 million North West Frontier Province Structural Adjustment II would support the provincial government’s implementation of reforms to improve fiscal and financial management, governance and public service delivery in education, health, rural development and the regulatory framework for private sector development.

A $100 million Sindh Structural Adjustment II would finance implementation of reforms to improve fiscal and financial management, governance, public service delivery, and the state’s regulatory framework.

The third $300 million Structural Adjustment Credit III focuses on reforming governance in the areas of taxation, devolution, strengthening the foundations for economic growth in the areas of power, oil and gas pricing, regulatory reform and Privatization.

In the transport sector, the $159 million Highways Rehabilitation is the sustainable delivery of a producing and efficient national highway system, contributing to lower transportation costs.