ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will assist Pakistan to realise the potential of economic corridor development with a view to boost industrial productivity, exports and job creation and thereby contribute to sustained, increased and equitable economic growth.

The technical assistance is part of the Pakistan Economic Corridors Programme (PECP) financed by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom and jointly delivered by ADB and DFID to promote regional trade and connectivity. Funding for the technical assistance will be provided by British government.

Outcome of the assistance will be economic corridor development policy and operational framework in line with best practice strategic policy framework for improving trade competitiveness. Besides feasibility studies and analytical tools will be developed to make Pakistan economic corridor development hub.

The key focus of the technical assistance will be to study the corridors potential corridors, enhance the value chain development programme along the corridors, strengthen strategies, policies, institutions and coordination, promoting the role of the private sector, enhancing capacity, and learning from best practices.

The technical assistance has been included in the ADB country operations’ business plan for Pakistan 2018-20, as a follow-up to a small scale policy and advisory project for scoping potential economic corridors, and will support development of the subsequent ADB country partnership strategy for Pakistan for 2020-24, and country operations’ business plans.

In 2015, ADB and DFID agreed upon PECP to support the government’s strategy to strengthen regional connectivity and trade, accelerate economic growth and create jobs. The programme consisted of significant investment in transport, investment and technical assistance to promote public-private partnerships and technical assistance to support transport sector policy and economic corridor planning.

DFID will provide up to £262 million of while ADB will act as administrator of the five year programme lasting until March 2020.

Some of the considerations in corridor development include current concentrations of population in different nodes along the corridor, endowments of natural, physical and human resources, existing and potential economic activities in the nodes, connectivity among the nodes, patterns of rural-urban migration, and investments and policies required to develop the corridor.

In Pakistan, the government’s continued fiscal deficit, insufficient public sector resources available for investment, limited capacity in government agencies, and the need for coordination among different agencies, means that the success of corridor development will depend on feasible plans that take such constraints into account. Promoting private sector participation in the planning and implementation of the scheme will be crucial.

The government’s national plan, ‘Vision 2025’, envisages development of economic corridors, comprising energy, industry, trade and transportation to be beneficial reflecting the country’s strategic location. The strategies of provincial governments also emphasise development and management of urban areas and economic nodes, connectivity among them, and promotion of agriculture, industry and services in them.

The initiatives include the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) at the national level, and new industrial estates, economic zones, transport systems, urban development, and promotion of agriculture and services in the provinces.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2018