PESHAWAR, Sept 19: A high-powered World Bank mission held a meeting with the provincial ministers and heads of the administrative departments to review progress on the provincial reforms programme (PRP).

Led by its country head for Pakistan, John Wall, the mission also suggested certain measures to improve the PRP, contained an official handout issued here on Wednesday.

World Bank released US$95 million loan to the NWFP government under its Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC) facility. The loan agreement is extendible for period of two more years, i.e. financial year 2003-4 and financial year 2004-5.

However, an extension would only be possible if the future political setup in the province ensured effective implementation of the PRP in its first year of operations achieving the bench marks set for the current financial year.

Apart from setting targets to improve services and economic sectors, the military backed provincial government has set difficult targets to achieve benchmarks to improve revenue base and provincial receipts during the next three financial years.

Besides, the provincial minister for finance, Farid Rehman, minister for health Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, and minister for education Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gillani, heads of the administrative departments of the NWFP, also attended the meeting.

The meeting had a detailed review of reforms being carried out in education, health, irrigation, agriculture, fiscal, and civil service sectors.

The handout claimed that the mission appreciated the progress made so far in respect of implementing the reforms programme. However, it suggested some measures to further improve the programme.