Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given a dollars 42 million worth loan to Pakistan to help improve the living conditions of the people in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) by promoting sustainable and productive use of the areas' natural resources.
According to sources here on Thursday, the project would be undertaken in three of the northern districts of Bajaur, Khyber and Mohmand, where dry and rocky land is mostly not suitable for farming, and the poorest families used to earn their living as sharecroppers or through agricultural labour. The project is projected to increase the productivity of about 52,500 hectares of rain-fed lands and benefit about 37,500 households.
They said that ADB's loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, carries a 32-year term, a grace period of eight years, and interest @ 01 percent per annum during the grace period and 1.5 percent thereafter. "The Pakistani government would contribute dollars 15.4 million towards the project's total estimated cost of dollars 60.4 million, while the beneficiaries would shoulder the balance of dollars three million. The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in June 2011," they added.
"To address these issues, the project would promote integrated resource management to improve productivity and arrest the degradation of the environment in the tribal areas. It would help improve farming and livestock rearing practices by selecting appropriate technologies and would promote effective forestry and range management.