ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has rated the overall implementation progress of “Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP)” worth $78 million satisfactory which envisaged to support the expansion of digitally enabled public service delivery for citizens and firms.

The bank in its first Implementation Status and Results Report (ISR) also termed the progress toward achievement of project development objective satisfactory.

This is the first ISR of DEEP since its approval by the World Bank Board. DEEP was declared effective on May 2, 2024, andthe first supervision mission was held from May 20th-30th. During the first mission, the World Bank’s team agreed withthe Project Implementing Entities (PIEs) on the time-sensitive activities to be implemented, as per the Financing Agreement.

The actions to be carried out by the PIEs are detailed in the Technical Annex of the Management Letter communicated to the PIEs and are essentially centered around two themes: (i) Implementation readiness: key and time-sensitive next steps required for the implementation phase of the Project, and (ii) Compliance with the terms of the Financing Agreement: key and time-sensitive tasks as laid down in the Signed Financing Agreement. “We would like to emphasize that at this stage, the PIEs must prioritize the key and time sensitive tasks,” the bank noted

Additionally, since the feasibility of the National Fiberization Plan will be financed by the Ministry of IT and Telecom through DEEP, the mission also discussed options for collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders to support the preparation of the National Fiberization Plan in Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024