PESHAWAR, Aug 7: The NWFP government has identified more than 35 small and medium-size development projects for getting Japanese grant Islamabad is expecting to receive shortly, according to official sources.

Informed sources told Dawn that the Japanese government had recently informed Islamabad that it was willing to give multi-million dollar aid to Pakistan for its support to war on terror.

“Part of the funding, to be provided as a grant, would be diverted to NWFP, though the funding agency has some reservations about law and order situation in the province and security at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” said a senior government official.

Broad parameters of the development projects identified by the NWFP government came under discussion during a recent meeting between the representatives of the two sides, said an official of the provincial government.

The official said the government had tried to remove the apprehensions expressed by the Japanese team members about law and order situation in the NWFP and situation in the backdrop of skirmishes between the Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces.

A development planning official talking to Dawn expressed the hope that the NWFP would certainly get part of the Japanese grant no matter what has happened at the Pakistan-Afghan border”.

However, he conceded that the NWFP might get affected by the international donor agencies to invest here if Islamabad did not manage to ease the growing tension on the country’s western border.

The projects pertain to health, education and agriculture sectors besides road and water sectors.

Similarly, schemes meant to attain economic growth also make part of the more than 35 projects the province has identified for execution by utilizing part of the expected Japanese grant.

Special  emphasis has been made  on developing small dams to store rainwater in various parts of the province.

The provincial government would now submit the detailed projects to the Economic  Affairs Division, Islamabad by Aug 13.