World Bank signs four agreements worth $650 million with Pakistan

Finance Minister senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar witnessed the signing ceremony of four agreements worth US$ 650 million with the World Bank today to support projects in Education, Health, Water and Disaster sectors.

Mr. Tariq Bajwa, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division signed the Financing Agreements on behalf of Government of Pakistan while representatives of Governments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan signed the Project Agreements on behalf of their respective Governments. Mr. Patchamuthu Illangovan, Country Director, World Bank, signed the agreements on behalf of the World Bank.

Finance Minister thanked World Bank for their support, while Country Director, World Bank appreciated Pakistan’s progress in economic reform and stabilization, especially over the last three years.

The details of the agreements are as under:

1. Balochistan Integrated Water Resources Management & Development Project – US$ 200 million:

The project development 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. This project consists of the following components:

Component 1: Institutions, Capacity and Information

Component 2: Water Infrastructure and Management Investment

Component 3: Project Management & Technical Assistance

1. Third Punjab Education Sector Project (PESP-III) – US$ 300 million:

The objective of the project is to support Punjab to improve school participation, completion and teaching-learning practices with a particular focus on Low Performing Districts. The project consists of the following parts:

Part 1: Improved Access, Quality and Education System Management

Part 2: Capacity Building, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation

iii.   Sindh Resilience Project – US$ 100 million:

The objectives of the project are to mitigate flood and drought risks in selected areas and to strengthen Sindh’s capacity to manage natural disasters. This project consists of the following components:

Component 1: Strengthening Disaster and Climate Risk Management

Component 2: Improving Infrastructure and Systems for Resilience

Component 3: Contingent Emergency Response

National Immunization Support Project (NISP) – US$ 50 million, Multi-Donor Trust Fund Grant of US$ 39.68 million (the MDTF Grant) for NISP:

The objective of the project is to increase the equitable coverage of services for immunization against Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD), including poliomyelitis, for children between 0 and 23 months in Pakistan. The project consists of following parts:-

Component 1: Strengthening Management, Governance and Stewardship Functions

Component 2: Improving Service Delivery Performance

Component 3: Demand Generation

Component 4: Vaccine Supply Chain

Component 5: Improving Capacity for Increased Immunization Coverage

On the occasion, the Finance Minister also said that he hopes that the completion of these projects will add to the general welfare of the public as promised by the government.