The Economic Affairs Division (EAD) has closed all project activities under Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) Round-1 financing. However, in order to ensure orderly closure of projects including accounts, inventories, assets etc December 12, 2015 has been declared as deadline for all projects.
Decision in this regard was taken in a meeting with Secretary EAD in the chair last month. Besides, senior officials of EAD, representatives of World Bank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA Secretariat attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed progress of the ongoing projects and informed that all projects are due to for closure by the end of October 2015. The meeting was further informed that Round-II was to commence from July, 2015. However, unless the activities under the first round do not come to closure, initiation on new work would continue to be delayed.
The meeting discussed and reviewed the progress of each project. The Project Directors (PDs) highlighted the progress and issues relating to individual projects. Decisions taken in the meeting were that all projects activities under MDTF Round-1 financing should be completed by the end of October 2015. However, in order to ensure orderly closure of all projects including accounts, inventories and assets etc, the closure date for all projects would be December 12, 2015.
The meeting directed the respective provincial governments/FATA Secretariat and World Bank for ensuring the closure as per requirements. It further decided that the unfinished activities under KP Revitalization Health Project, KP Southern Area Development Project and Competitive Industries Project in KP (CIKP) would be completed on priority in Round-II.
The meeting also decided that the World Bank would initiate a dialogue with the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and FATA Secretariat to finalize the implementation strategy of Round-II. The strategy hence designed would be presented before the Steering Committee for approval and should focus on overcoming the issues faced during implementation of Round-I. The activities carried out on projects till October 2015 will be financed by the World Bank under the financing available from the MDTF Round-I.