Four-lane motorway will be completed
in three years at cost of $760m
WASHINGTON: World Bank (WB) has agreed to finance the construction of Peshawar-Kabul motorway, a 265- kilometer road which is being constructed by Pakistan to improve regional connectivity.
The project was discussed in a meeting between Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar and Annette Dixon, Vice President of World Bank's South Asia Region here on Saturday. “World Bank has agreed in principle to finance the project,” said a statement issued by Pakistan embassy after the meeting.
During the meeting Dar proposed to the World Bank to finance the project for improving regional connectivity. No further details were given about the project in the statement. However in February this year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that feasibility work was underway on Peshawar-Kabul motorway.
According to reports, the preliminary cost of the four-lane motorway project is approximately $760 million, which will take three years to be completed. During his meeting, Dar also proposed that the World Bank may consider leading a consortium to finance the Diamer Bhasha Project.
While appreciating the initiatives taken by the Pakistan government for putting economy on the path of sustainable development, Ms. Dixon said WB would like to work more closely with the country.
Dar also met with World Bank President Dr Jim Yong Kim and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammad Aljadaan on Sunday. He apprised the World Bank officials about the current economic situation in the country and maintained that government had taken concrete measures to bring structural changes for the sustainable economic development. He said energy sector projects were top priority to overcome loadshedding by early 2018. He said around 25,000MW projects had been identified and were at different stages of implementation. Out of this, 10,000MW will be added in the system by March 2018. He said there had been no loadshedding in the industrial sector for last three years which was a significant achievement.
Finance minister further said the government believed in inclusive & sustainable high growth. The government has established the Micro Finance Company to extend micro-finance facilities to the poorer segments of society. It has tripled the allocation for Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) since 2013 and the number of beneficiaries has increased to 5.4 million.
Dar appreciated that WB had been a great partner in Pakistan’s development. “We are continuing on the path of reforms and will not make any compromise in this regard,” he said.
Referring to the CPEC, Ishaq Dar stated that government was giving top priority to private sector for implementing projects under CPEC and government’s own exposure would be limited. The private sector will be given preference in selecting & setting up projects under CPEC.
He informed the WB team that Pakistan was one of the leading countries for ensuring financial inclusion and for this purpose a strategy had been devised which was being implemented thoroughly.
In response to a question about policy reforms in Pakistan, Dar remarked that Parliament had so far passed 24 laws to create conducive & enabling environment for growth and private sector investment. The minister further added that 10 more such laws are in the making, aiming at further facilitating the private sector.