Punjab tasked to finish foreign funded projects on time

ISLAMABAD: Omar Ayub Khan, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, on Wednesday directed authorities to execute development projects timely so that people could start benefiting from them as soon as possible.

The minister said this while chairing a high-level meeting of National Coordination Committee on Foreign-Funded Projects (NCC-FFP) held to review the progress of development projects being implemented by the Government of Punjab.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Finance Division, Chairman P&D Board Punjab, and relevant provincial secretaries & project directors.

During the meeting, the NCC-FFP reviewed the compliance status of committee’s previous decisions dated February 4, 2021 and May 26, 2021. At present, 26 projects funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), China, Japan, France, and United Kingdom (UK) worth $ 6 billion are under implementation by the Government of Punjab in agriculture & irrigation, energy, road & transport, urban development, tourism, climate change & disaster management, education, health & social protection.

The minister lauded the efforts of provincial government and line departments for expediting implementation of foreign-funded projects. While reviewing the progress of road sector, the Committee specifically emphasised on six slow moving projects namely: ADB Jalalpur Irrigation Project, ADB Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Project, ADB Enhancing Public-Private Partnerships in Punjab, WB Punjab Tourism Growth Project, Japan Project for Installation of Weather Surveillance Radar in Multan City, WB Punjab Agriculture & Rural Transformation Programme.