Sanctioning of concessional loans may be in jeopardy: Fata admin fails to submit proposal for new schemes

The inability of the administration of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to submit practical plan for new development projects may jeopardise the possible sanctioning of grant and concessional loans from the international donors, which are keen to undertake new initiatives in the backward areas.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other international financial institutions (IFIs) have asked the government to submit an action plan of uplift schemes for "areas bordering Afghanistan" so that they could provide grant assistance and concessional loans, sources told Business Recorder.
However, the Fata administration has failed to submit any proposal for the new schemes and that can be a big blow for the possible assistance that is planned by the donors, the sources said.
They said that under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for FY 2004-05, the Fata administration had demanded Rs 6.6 billion, which was cut by around 50 percent.
The federal government rejected the demand made by the Fata Directorate with the plea that the latter should submit a detailed report on utilisation of Rs 4.4 billion funds, which were provided in the PSDP allocation for the outgoing fiscal.
"They are not giving us any details of the expenditure in the current fiscal. They are doing it deliberately," the sources said.
The 2004-05 PSDP allocation for Fata is around Rs 3.4 billion against the demand of Rs 6.6 billion, the sources said. Fata, which is strategically very important belt in US war on terror, has become the center stage for donors to undertake various uplift schemes in the areas in health and education sectors, besides improvement in the basic infrastructure.
The sources said under the Constitution, the federal government could not force the Fata administration to give details of the PSDP expenditure. But the administration is accountable to the federal government for the expenses the former had done from the funds provided from the budgetary PSDP. "It used to be permanent practice in the past," the sources said.
The sources said that the failure of the Fata authorities to give details of the expenditure and its inability to identify new projects could be fatal for areas that are to be brought at par with the relatively developed areas of the country.
The sources said that an important meeting of the donors and Fata authorities, in this regard, was also held here recently, as the international community and the government were willing to provide financial assistance for new projects to be launched from 2004-05.
The sources did not disclose as to what would be the amount of grant assistance and the concessional loans from the ADB and other IFIs for the new projects in the tribal areas.