ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: The federal government is launching decentralization support programme (DSP) on October 4, 2003 with a $300 million funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to transfer fiscal and legal responsibilities to the provinces and the local governments.

The DSP seeks to bolster decentralization by providing fiscal, legal, institutional and capacity building support. As a first step towards implementation, a work plan has been approved for its local government performance enhancement Phase-1 (2003- 04).

The work plan comprises 37 approved investment proposals and projects including seven for the federal, eight for the Punjab, eight for Sindh, nine for NWFP and five for Balochistan.

These projects are focused on capacity building for budgeting, audit, accounts, communication, strengthening of provincial finance commissions, local government commission, local councils, monitoring committees, development of financial rules, studies and seminars.

These projects are now up for bidding. To introduce service providers to the DSP, the technical investment proposals and the bidding process, the DSP national programme support office (NPSO) will hold an open forum for bidding next week to announce scope of operations and the rationale and scope of each technical investment proposals.