ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has conditioned funds disbursement for projects with performance, as the bank has expressed serious concerns over inordinate delay in projects' implementation, particularly in the power sector, it is learnt.
The tri-partite wrap-up meeting on portfolio review of $6.6 billion ADB-funded projects was held at the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), which was chaired by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdum Khusro Bukhtiar, here on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by ADB Country Director Xiaohong Yang, the deputy chairman Planning Commission, and senior officers of line ministries.
The two-day portfolio review session is being organised by the EAD.
The volume of ADB-funded projects is $ 6.6 billion.
At day-one, projects related to the Power Division, Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of National Health Service and Research, the Ministry of Climate Change, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), were reviewed.
Sources on condition of anonymity revealed to Business Recorder that the ADB expressed serious concerns over inordinate delay in implementation of the projects.
The projects of the power sector came under spotlight, where serious concerns were raised by the bank.
The issues, which obstruct implementation of the projects, include long filing process, internal administrative issues, land acquisition, right of way issues with the provinces, were raised during the meeting.
The ADB clarified that funds would be released only for projects with good performance, the sources added.
The federal minister during the meeting indicated that projects with flawed feasibility could be revoked to save money for other projects, the sources added.
According to the official statement, the minister appreciated the role of the ADB in supporting the development agenda of Pakistan.
He underscored the importance of efficient and effective planning and execution of projects funded by the ADB.
He said the government would review the progress of on-going projects quarterly under the chairmanship of the prime minister of Pakistan to expedite the implementation of the projects.
The minister also highlighted the role of the portfolio review sessions to survey the status of projects, identify the bottlenecks, and set the targets to expedite implementation process.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Minister for Economic Affairs directed the line departments to galvanise the ADB-funded projects.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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