ISLAMABAD: The government will seek additional funds from donors for the Foreign Funded Projects (FFPs) which suffered unmanageable losses due to heavy rains and flash floods.
This was confirmed by Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, State Minister for Finance while talking exclusively to Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
Currently, in total there are 113 projects in all provinces worth $ 15.2 billion. The province of Punjab is implementing 22 projects, worth $6.2 billion, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – 41 projects, worth $4.9 billion, Sindh – 29 projects worth $3.2 billion, Balochistan – 13 projects worth $0.526 billion USD, and AJK/GB – eight projects worth $ 0.209 billion USD.
The initial estimates of losses were presented in the emergency session on Initial Damage Assessment of FFP affected by unprecedented rains and flash floods across the country which was chaired by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs.
She said that the exact losses to these projects would be determined once the water recedes. The government will approach foreign donors for additional funds if projects affected and the loss is unmanageable in the current cost, she added.
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The meeting was attended by Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, State Minister for Finance, Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs, Humair Kareem, Additional Secretary EAD, and representatives from provincial governments including P&D, BOR Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan, AJK, and GB, and all relevant provincial PDs.
Minister for Economic Affairs welcomed the participants to the meeting and stated that in continuation of 29 successful NCC-FFP sessions, the objective of calling this emergency session was to review the initial damage assessment caused by heavy rains and flashfloods to the implementation of Foreign Funded Projects (FFP) in the provinces, including AJK and GB and to attend to the issues of the affected projects on an urgent basis to pace up disbursements and progress.
All the provinces submitted an initial damage assessment report to the EAD on which discussions were held today. Fortunately, the initial damage assessment seems to be curtailed to a manageable limit. Minister directed to hold detailed damage assessment session in the upcoming NCC meeting to evaluate the progress of the projects, a part from a general review of the project implementation. During the meeting, the representatives of the provinces presented an initial damage assessment of the affected FFP along with the issues hampering the implementation of the projects. The provinces emphasized that the present assessments are preliminary and not definitive owing to access issues and the assessment is ongoing.
The minister requested the representatives from the provincial governments to timely address the issues of projects affected by the heavy rains and flash floods. He also emphasized the need for setting milestones/deliverables, with timelines, by the focal departments and implementing agencies for better monitoring, and preventing time and cost overruns.
He further stated that strict action would be taken against officials who are causing unnecessary delays in the efficient implementation and the Foreign Funded Projects as the assessment of the FFP is going through a three-tier check including from the EAD, the NDMA, and the UNDP. The secretary EAD also stressed the need for regular follow-up meetings by the focal departments with the executing agencies and stakeholders for effective monitoring and prompt resolution of issues.
The meeting identified the damaged Foreign Funded Projects in each province and directed the provinces to make a detailed assessment for the upcoming NCC meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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