PESHAWAR, April 24: International donor and lending agencies are reluctant to finance a nine-year uplift plan for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) owing to security constraints and lack of adequate data and capacity in the region, sources said.

“Main areas of concern for the donors in the tribal areas are unfamiliarity with the area, security problems and the capacity of local officers,” said an official.

The Civil Secretariat, Fata, has worked out a nine-year sustainable development programme for seven agencies and six Frontier Regions in Fata. The uplift plan, which requires $2.6 billion, was unveiled at the donors’ conference held here on April 12.

The civil secretariat needs foreign assistance of $1.3 billion for the implementation of the plan. Half of the estimated cost will be met with resources provided by the federal government and the secretariat. The government planned to get assistance from donors for education, health, rural development, agriculture, livestock, housing, irrigation and roads in the tribal area.

Diplomatic sources told Dawn that donor countries and international agencies lacked basic information about the region and without physical presence there they might not pump money into the development plan for the tribal areas.

“We lack knowledge about the area and we are concerned about the absorptive capacity of the local administration,” said a diplomat. He said there were conflicts among the tribes in different areas and the government should remove these hurdles before engaging foreign donors.

An official source said that diplomats from western countries had sought clarifications from the locals about the utilisation of the taxpayers’ money for uplift of the tribesmen who had not been brought into the tax net.

Another area of concern for the foreign donors is the right of easement guaranteed to the tribal people and their extended families on both sides of the border under the Durand Line Agreement, which they see as a major hurdle in determining the exact number of people in the community.

Sources said the issue of extended families on both sides of the border was raised at the conference and some of the participants sought clarifications about the legal definition of extended tribes.