Multilateral development finance projects: Minister irked by task force’s lack of interest

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (PD&SI), Ahsan Iqbal has expressed disappointment over the members of high-level inter-ministerial task force on multilateral development finance for not showing any interest in projects despite the fact that $ 3 billion are available for funding, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.

He conveyed his irritation at the first meeting of the task force held on August 16, 2022 at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives being co-chair.

Secretary PD&SI, Syed Zafar Ali Shah highlighted the objectives of creating the task force. Minister for PD&SI expressed dissatisfaction at the lack of interest as none of the members of the task force, with the exception of EAD & PD&SI, and online presence of CEO National Disaster & Risk Management (MDRM) Fund attended in person.

The Co-Chairs, ie, Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Minster for PD&SI reviewed the projects furnished by the working groups on sustainable agriculture, human development & digitalization and expressed dissatisfaction on the quality of input.

The Minister for PD&SI stressed the need to furnish impactful, bankable, and strategically important projects for multilateral development finance. He also expressed his disappointment as none of the working groups had met to discuss projects for financing despite the lapse of one year.

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The Minister for Economic Affairs noted that resources to the tune of $3 billion are available for funding presentable projects.

Sharing the results of a monitoring study, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that there are 31 problematic foreign funded projects at a huge cost on account of commitment charges and cost over-run.

He highlighted the importance of developing a proper mechanism for the selection of priority projects for foreign funding.

After the discussions, the following decisions were taken:(i) Ministries will include two representatives from academia and three renowned relevant sector experts from the private sector in each working group; (ii) Ministries concerned will convene meetings of respective Working Groups to identify impactful and bankable projects for consideration of the high level task force; (iii) The members of the high level task force (Secretaries of the relevant ministries) will present their projects in the next meeting of the task force; and (iv) next meeting of the task force will be held on August 30, 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022