PESHAWAR, May 13: The NWFP government has chalked out a short-term development strategy and long-term plan with financial outlay of 35 billion rupees for rapid socio-economic development of the areas bordering Afghanistan.

This was stated during a briefing by the NWFP Chief Secretary to the World Bank President, Mr James D. Wolfenson, on the development of border areas in Fata and Pata.

The briefing was attended by NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Governor of Balochistan Justice Ameerul Mulk Mengal, NWFP Minister for Finance Farid Rehman, Secretary-General of Ministry of Finance Moin Afzal, Additional Chief Secretary of Balochistan Ahmad Bakhsh Rind, some directors of the World Bank and other top officials of the federal and provincial governments departments concerned.

In his opening remarks, the governor highlighted the massive development plans for the districts and administrative agencies bordering Afghanistan and said that these areas needed special attention to bring them on a par with the other areas of the province.

He said that most of the areas in Fata were extremely backward and the socio-economic development in these areas remained neglected.

“It is time to bring a substantial socio-economic and cultural change in these border areas and for this purpose, the World Bank and other donor agencies should provide liberal economic assistance,” the governor said.

The allocation of additional financial resources would greatly improve socio-economic indicators, the governor added.

The governor dwelt at length over the peculiar demographic and cultural characteristics of the people living in border areas and gave an assessment of the adverse effects of the presence of Afghan refugees on the socio-economic conditions of these areas.

The governor of Balochistan, Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal, in his remarks said that the economy of his province had been severely damaged by the extreme drought over the past three years.

It has caused a colossal damage to the agriculture, livestock and disturbed the ecological balance. He also referred to economic and health problems caused by the presence of Afghan refugees in Balochistan in large numbers.

Secretary-general of Ministry of Finance Moin Afzal in his presentation depicted a vivid picture of economic conditions of the borders areas of the NWFP and Balochistan. He said that almost the entire province and some districts of the NWFP were badly hit by drought of the past years.

He particularly mentioned the poor state of roads in these areas and emphasized for liberal investment in the communication, education and health sectors.

He urged the World Bank and other donor agencies to commit grants-in-aid and economic assistance on concessional terms worth one billion dollars for the next 10 years.

He said that only a financial assistance of such a magnitude could bring about a meaningful socio-economic change in the border areas.

On this occasion, the World Bank President evinced keen interest in the development package for the border areas and said that the implementation of the package would bring about happy changes in the life of the people of these areas.

He said the priority approach towards the planning of development projects and the implementation strategy was commendable and commensurate with the requirements of the people.

Earlier, the NWFP chief secretary gave a detailed briefing to the President of the World Bank on the demographic features and comparative socio-economic indicators of the districts and administrative agencies bordering Afghanistan.

He referred to the unfavourable landmines ratio in these areas, acute unemployment, low female literacy rate, limited water supply coverage and poor state of the road infrastructure in these areas and pleaded for big investment in the social sector development project.

He also enumerated the measures initiated for the economic uplift of Fata and Pata. The additional chief secretary of Balochistan apprised the World Bank President about the economic situation prevailing in the province.