The provincial government in collaboration with World Bank is holding a two-day NWFP Development Forum from May 18 to 19 to invite domestic and foreign investors for making investment in the potential sectors of the province.
This was announced by NWFP Senior Minister Siraj-ul-Haq, while briefing the newsmen here at the Media Centre of the Information Department on Tuesday.
More than 100 domestic and foreign delegates including ambassadors of different countries, representatives of donor agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are scheduled to attend the forum.
During the forum, he said both domestic and foreign investors would be briefed on the going project and would prove a mean for getting assistance for different projects. He said that presently international monetary institutions including World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Union and other monetary institutions are taking interest in provision of assistance to the province.
"The forum would not only help increase international assistance of the province, but more donor agencies would show interest to extend co-operation to the provincial government," he maintained.
Two different documents including WB prepared, 'NWFP Economic Report' for acceleration growth and improvement of public service delivery in the province and Provincial Reforms Programme, prepared with co-operation of DFID would also be presented before the donors. The donors would be lured to provide assistance in health, education, hydropower generation, agriculture, industries sectors and particular in tourism sector to the province.
The senior minister said that the province in its limited financial resources always depends on the assistance extended by federal government and foreign monetary institutions. He said that provincial has completed 90 dollar Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC) programme with World Bank and the bank had expressed wish to continue the co-operation in future too. A three-year new programme in the name of Direct Planned Credit (DPC) would be started to promote health and education sectors.
Giving the background of the economic backwardness of the province, the senior minister said that due to international situation the region had always remained hot spot due to different reasons. He said that more than 4 million Afghan refugees have been stationed after the intervention of former Soviet Union, who played havoc with the infrastructure and other sectors of the province.
He lamented that in the wake of their repatriation neither international community nor federal government paid any interest in the improvement of the destroyed infrastructure and immediate relief was provided to them.
Siral-ul-Haq, who is also holds the portfolio of finance said that tourism sector has big potential in the province as world known natural tourists destinations like Kalam, Kamrat, Chitral and Kaghan are situated in our province. In such a situation the international community should at least have arranged a programme for adjustment of our manpower in the sector.
He said that efforts for the recovery of the net profit in head of hydro power generation with the federal government had entered a decisive stage, saying that since 1991 federal government had capped the net profit on a particular figure. Similarly, he also attributed the economic backwardness of the province to the prevailing situation in the adjacent tribal belt of the province.
The provincial government, Siraj-ul-Haq added would present its Future Vision before the donor agencies in the forum and targets in various sectors. "We are bringing new developmental programmes for the province and our utmost efforts would be to woo maximum investors," he expressed the hope. He was confident that future belongs to the NWFP.
In response to a question regarding the dilapidated conditions of the road network in the province, he said that the construction of the 450-kilometre long Nowshera-Chitral Highway was responsibility of National Highway Authority (NHA). However, he lamented that the authority had failed in the completion of the project.
Regarding debts, he said that before the establishment of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government, the province was having Rs 70 billion loans on a mark up rate of 16 percent adding that with the better strategy the provincial government had returned an amount of Rs 2 billion debt prematurely to federal government. He said that Rs 2 billion paid amount is yet to be adjusted against the loan. The province during last three years has not taken a single penny loan from the federal government.
When asked about steps for private sector development, the senior minister said that through the forum they would attract domestic investors and our own people would come forward for investment in the province. "We are targeting expatriate Pakistanis and they would be wooed to make investment in their own country," Siraj-ul-Haq concluded.