The federal government would launch "Technical Support Unit (TSU) for Pak-Italy Debt Swap Agreement" project to address the issues related to socio-economic development process, poverty reduction, environment, human development and improvement in governance.
According to documents available with Business Recorder, the estimated cost of the project is Rs 104.77 million which would be financed out of the Italian Debt Swap Fund.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved the "Technical Support Unit (TSU) for Pak-Italy Debt Swap Agreement" project. The project is being dealt outside of Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP).
Both the countries have made arrangements for the implementation of the project and a project management committee has been established with co-chair of Italian Ambassador and secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD). A Technical Support Unit has also been established to assist the management committee.
The document further revealed that under the said agreement, approximately $100 million equivalent to Rs 8.3 billion of Pakistan's debt owed to Italy will be swapped for expenditure on jointly selected and appraised development projects. An amount of Rs 6.33 billion has been disbursed to Pak-Italy Debt Swap Agreement (PIDSA) project till April, 2015. The balance amount will be utilized on eligible projects up to 30th June, 2017.
Under the project, a technical Support Unit has been established in EAD to prepare a general strategic plan and policy gridlines for debt swap, provide technical support/appraisal for approval of eligible projects, and monitor the implementation of whole programme.
The main objectives of the project are; (i) strengthen participatory approaches and governance considerations by involving civil society and other stakeholders in the design and implementation of policies, programmes and projects, with capacity building of involved agencies (ii) Transparency of information on public sector decision making, policies, actions, and on performance of public institutions (iii) Address corporate governance and public-private interface issues to protect identified public interests while minimising private transaction costs (iv) Improve public sector management by streamlining revenue administration; strengthening public financial administration; streamlining E-Governance; public sector capacity building and civil service reform, covering professionalization of civil services and qualitative improvements through continuous training and skill up-gradation, this will improve transparency, accountability, efficiency, fair play and honesty and (v) Reduce corruption by introducing transparent, open and accountable financial/administrative mechanism in all fields.
According to documents, under the PIDSA, as many as 46 projects have been launched, out of which 29 have been completed, 13 projects are ongoing and 4 new project have not yet started and one is on hold due to some administrative issue.
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