The World Bank (WB) has closed three projects worth $650 million for Pakistan due to slow progress on the projects, sources said on Friday.
However, Economics Affairs Division (EAD) Secretary Waqar Masood Khan said WB had not abolished the projects and had closed down only two projects, one of energy sector project (Balochistan) due to law and order and other was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was abolished by the WB due to slow moving work on the project. However, the EAD secretary refused to tell the names and cost of the projects which had been abolished by the bank. According to the sources, the World Bank took the decision of abolishing the projects after reviewing the progress on the projects and found them slow so it brought to an end $300 million programme of PRSP and $50 million AJK Community Development programme. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also likely to delay the disbursement of $1.1 billion as four projects of National High Authority (NHA) have been found moving slowly or facing delay. The ADB committed $1.6 billion for projects of the NHA and these projects are supposed to be completed within the agreed period till 2015. The initial review of the implementation of these projects has revealed that the projects have been found to move slowly and are likely to cause further delay in the disbursement of the releases from ADB.
