ISLAMABAD: Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bukhtiar on Thursday directed the provincial authorities to remove bottlenecks in the implementation of the projects financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The minister was addressing the tripartite wrap-up meeting on the two-day portfolio review of ADB-funded projects at the ministry of economic affairs.
The meeting was attended by ADB Country Director Xiaohong Yang, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman and senior officers of the provincial governments.
Bukhtiar directed the heads of provincial departments to address the technical issues and safeguard the compliances to improve the performance of the ADB projects.
The volume of ADB-funded projects is estimated at $ 6.6 billion, whereas volume of active portfolios in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is worth $919 million, $656 million in
Sindh, $968 million in Punjab, and $105 million in Balochistan.
Pakistan was among the top three borrowers of ADB last year with the country’s outstanding loan exceeding $12 billion, according to a bank’s document.
The document showed that the sum of disbursed and outstanding loan balances, present value of guaranteed obligations and fair values of equities related to Pakistan amounted to $12.3 billion – 11 percent of total exposure – as of December 31, 2019, compared to $10.8 billion or 10 percent in 2018.
ADB said the three largest borrowers— China, India, and Pakistan— represented 43 percent of the portfolio.
ADB’s operations in Pakistan focus on developing energy-efficient and climate-resilient transit systems and infrastructure, improving secondary education, enhancing technology-based agriculture, and advancing the energy sector.
There is an ongoing portfolio of $2.2 billion covering energy generation, transmission, distribution, energy efficiency, and renewable energy development. The bank has disbursed $25.18 billion in cumulative loan and grant disbursements to the country since 1966.
The projects related to social, education, infrastructure development, public-private projects, irrigation and agriculture, transportation and energy sectors in the provinces were reviewed at the second day of review session/
The minister appreciated the role of ADB, ministry, and executing agencies for effective planning and execution of on-going projects funded by the ADB.
The minister emphasised the role of the portfolio review sessions to identify the bottlenecks and set the targets to expedite implementation process.
ADB Yang appreciated the portfolio review sessions for timely implementation of the Projects. She hoped that the economic cooperation between ADB and Pakistan would be continued in the future.