Roads' network, hydro-generation plans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: JICA, ADB to extend assistance

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government expects to receive foreign assistance, ie 19 percent of the total outlay of fiscal budget 2011-12; 79.4 percent of it in shape of grants and rest 21.6 percent as loans.
The Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) would extend assistance for development of roads' network, while Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide funds for different hydro-generation projects in the province, said it Finance Secretary, Sahibzada Ahmad Saeed, in reply to a question during post-budget press conference here on Monday.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance, Engr. Mohammad Hamayun Khan, provincial Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussein, provincial secretaries and officials of different departments were present on the occasion.
Finance Secretary said that the foreign donors have extended 0.9 billion grants during last financial year. However, the provincial Minister for Finance, Hamayun Khan, while speaking on the occasion, said that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had declined to accept foreign loans due to tough terms and condition.
He said that the government had presented a balanced and tax-free budget, saying that initiatives have been taken to generate employment opportunities in the province. He, however, stressed that unemployment could not be addressed overnight, but it would take much time.
About the freezing of ADP funds in 2010-11, Hamayun Khan explained that the government had restored ongoing 636 projects except new schemes after 45 days of devastated floods last year in the province. To a question about utilisation of developmental funds, the Minister for Finance said that the government had spent 61.103 billion out of total development expenditure of 69 billion with 88 percent utilisation in the province. He said that government had allocated maximum funds for five districts of the province.
Referring the distribution of funds among flood-affected ones, he said the government had disbursed 4,700 million out of total amount of 5,811 among 281,851 verified flood-affected people till last month under first phase in the province. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) would launch a special campaign to verify remaining 22,607 flood-hit people, he maintained.
He informed that the foreign donors had extended 90 percent assistance to flood-affected people, while rest of 10 percent provided assistance by Federal government. He further said that the government had imposed tobacco cess development after a long period in the province.