PESHAWAR, Feb 5: The NWFP government will borrow $130 million from the World Bank for the second phase of its multi-sector reforms programme in the next financial year, officials told Dawn.
The financial assistance would be utilised to achieve development targets set under the three-year Provincial Reforms Programme (PRP).
According to the officials, provincial authorities are in close contact with the World Bank for acquiring the multi-million-credit facility as an appraisal mission of the lending agency is due in the provincial capital next month.
The PRP-II is the continuation of an earlier three-year programme, which was initiated in 2002 to bring reforms to areas such as fiscal, public financial management and service delivery by tackling governance issues and facilitating growth through the private sector development.
The World Bank had provided $270 million as structural adjustment credit for the first phase of PRP which ended in the 2004-05 financial year.
The forthcoming mission, comprising experts of various sectors, would review the progress of government departments and agencies towards achievement of the targets and set modalities for the future reform programme, the sources said.
Officials claimed that the government had made significant progress through the first PRP in various areas, however, it still faced huge challenges and the proposed credit line can provide what they called a much-needed fiscal space to the province to accelerate pace of reforms in targeted areas.
The PRP-II is based on five main points, including efficiency of public expenditure, improving civil services, addressing disparities in the development, strengthening competitive private sector activities and accelerating human development.Through reforms in the public expenditure management, the government plans to have real growth in provincial gross domestic product (PGDP) from seven to 7.5 per cent over a period of five years.
Likewise, creation of 5.9 million new jobs in the private sector by reducing the rate of unemployment from 13 per cent in 2005 to 9.6 per cent was another major target of this component.
Improving service delivery is a major concept behind the PRP-II for which initiatives have been made part of the proposed development strategy in the areas of education, health and water supply and sanitation.
Increasing the general enrolment ratio 84 per cent for girls through a special enrolment increase campaign is one of the expected outcomes of the reform process in the education sector.
Similarly, the provincial government wants to strengthen communicable disease control, maternal health programme, primary health care, family planning and hospital management through such reforms in the health sector.
The private sector development for a high growth is a vital area of the PRP-II through which the government wants to facilitate investment in hydropower generation, mineral, tourism and agricultural sectors of the province, officials said.