US Ambassador and Co-ordinator for Economic and Development Assistance to Pakistan Robin Raphel said on Monday that the change in US House of Representative is not likely to cause a delay in the release of fund for Pakistan under Kerry-Lugar - Berman Bill (KLB).
She was responding to a question during her press conference at the residence of US Consul General William Martin who introduced her as the "friend of Pakistan." "We do not expect that the change in the Congress will delay this (Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill) significantly. She said the Congress can always ask more questions about any programme as this is their prerogative. But we are in very regular and detail consultation with the Congress on this bill. I have confidence that they understand why we are here and fundamentally, what we are doing," she noted.
To a question regarding the status of Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill after a change in the US lower house, she said that the government will be able to successfully explain what we are doing and what are the accountability and transparency safeguards and how Pakistanis are participating. We think that we can better explain that this is the good investment to the American people.
Ms Raphel said Republicans tend to be more conservative, cautious and demanding about how the US foreign assistance is being spent. This is true that the finances are controlled by the House of Representatives, she added. Responding to a question about the flowing of funds under Kerry - Lugar Bill, she said that the implementation and funding under this Bill was already underway. "It is working like any assistance programme or government's budget. You get funds in a year but sometimes it takes couple years to fully spend it out. In the last US fiscal year 2010, we spent 772 million dollars in education, health and other sectors."
"There is no a specific day that the money under this bill begins to flow in. Its all part of a process under which some on-going projects continue and other projects come on line and it goes in that kind of way over the next few years," she observed. Replying to another question regarding the use of funds under this bill, she said that the USA has set up a series of benchmarks to safeguards in each projects, to ensure that we can track the money. "For example, we have to go through a third party pre-audit assessment before we can provide money to any institution."
Similarly, she said that US funds will go in special account for any project with the government. They will be retained in that special account whether at federal or provincial level and not mixed up with governments' budget and we can track these funds, she added.
"We have contacted Transparency International to run a "hotline" to receive telephone calls from public regarding any irregularities in our projects. It is under implementation," she remarked. US Ambassador said important sectors in the bill are energy, agriculture, education and health programmes that promote economic development, value chains in the cotton and mangoes and others.
Earlier, explaining the reason for her visit to Karachi, Ms Raphel said that she came to Karachi to consult with government officials, member of civil society, diplomatic partners, Consul General and USAID to know how USA is doing on various development projects and the progress of our missing down here.