Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Senator Ishaq Dar on Wednesday witnessed the signing ceremony of four agreements worth $650 million with the World Bank to support various projects.

Out of the total amount, $200 million have been allocated for the Balochistan integrated water resources management and development project. The objectives are to strengthen provincial government capacity for water resources monitoring and management and to improve community-based water management for targeted irrigation schemes in Balochistan.

The project consists of institutions, capacity, information, water infrastructure and management investment along with project management and technical assistance. Representatives from Punjab signed a $300 million Third Punjab Education Sector Project (PESP-III) – that consists of improved access, quality and education system management along with capacity building, project management, monitoring and evaluation.

The Sindh resilience project – amounting to $100 million – was also included in the agreement. The project objectives are to mitigate flood and drought risks in selected areas and to strengthen the province’s capacity to manage natural disasters. It consists of strengthening disaster and climate risk management, improving infrastructure and systems for resilience along with contingent emergency response.

The fourth agreement included the National Immunisation Support Project (NISP) amounting to $50 million and a multi-donor trust fund grant of $39.68 million for NISP – to increase the equitable coverage of services for immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases including poliomyelitis for children up to 23 months in Pakistan.

Senator Dar, on the occasion, said the completion of the projects will add to the general welfare of the public as promised by the government. He also thanked World Bank representatives for their support. World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan appreciated Pakistan’s progress in economic reform and stabilisation, especially over the last three years.