Uplift donor funds of US $27 million for KP and Fata set to lapse
The World Bank (WB) has issued another warning to Pakistan, but this time it is not over the usual complaint, the federal government not adhering strictly to the conditions laid down in its lending programmes. In a letter to the KP Governor, it has cautioned that the funds set aside for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and employment schemes of the internally displaced persons of KP and Fata would be lost in case the long lingering issue of the relative Project Concept (PC-1) approval was not resolved immediately. This had fallen prey to political wrangling and bureaucratic indifference.
The Bank administers the pivotal Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for economic revitalisation of KP and Fata and the Rural Livelihood and Community Infrastructure Project, in close collaboration with the KP and federal governments. Now, the relative PCs need to be signed immediately as the project staff will be issued one month termination notices on February 28, with March 31 the final cut- off date. This would entail not only the withdrawal of much needed development funds of $27 million, but would send a disagreeable signal to the influential countries, including the EU, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Finland , Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and Turkey, that sponsor this huge donor fund.
Of course, sincere words of counsel or admonition seldom shake the relevant authorities out of their normal lethargy and slumber, especially if they emanate from the World Bank, which has to expend considerable time and energy in forewarning our spendthrift rulers about their wasteful habits. The mountain of growing national debt is a testament to their recklessness, apathy and lack of political will. But this time, unless some drastic dynamism and initiative is displayed by the KP Governor personally, the sufferers will be the already traumatised and uprooted poor people of backward KP and FATA, an act of unpardonable criminal neglect. Hopefully, both the requisite PC-1 would now be approved in the forthcoming March 9 meeting of the Fata Development Working Party, to everyone’s relief.