By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved three projects worth $658.8 million to help Pakistan achieve its goal of more inclusive and sustainable growth and development, the bank said on Wednesday.
The projects will support Pakistan’s efforts to improve domestic resource mobilization, rehabilitate schools damaged by the 2022 floods, and enhance agricultural productivity to improve food security, the ADB said in a statement.
“This significant new wave of financing will help Pakistan recover from the impacts of last year’s cost-of-living crisis and super-floods and return to the path of long-term development that is sustainable and inclusive,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov.
The largest of the three projects is a $300 million policy-based loan to support the first subprogram of the Improved Resource Mobilization and Utilization Reform Program, which aims to strengthen Pakistan’s fiscal management and revenue generation.
The program will help transform tax administration, public expenditure management, and other institutional structures to enhance domestic resource mobilization, including non-debt resources such as private investment and savings.
The second project is a $275 million emergency assistance loan to provide additional financing for the ongoing Sindh Secondary Education Improvement Project, which will help reconstruct up to 1,600 flood-damaged schools in the province of Sindh.
The project will use disaster- and climate-resilient and gender-responsive designs to boost the resilience and inclusivity of the education system in Pakistan, especially for girls in the most disadvantaged and vulnerable districts of Sindh.
The project will also receive an $800,000 technical assistance grant to help plan and monitor the status of reconstruction in all flood-damaged schools and provide implementation support, including for introducing inclusive design features.
The third project is an $80 million concessional loan for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Security Support Project, which will help address climate vulnerabilities, enhance food security, and boost the livelihoods of rural farm households in the most flood-damaged districts in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The project will provide essential agriculture inputs and training to smallholder farmers, including women, and improve household nutrition and women’s empowerment.
It will also enhance digital access and availability, especially with regard to market opportunities and climate information.
The project will be supported by a $3 million grant from the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific that will finance activities for women farmers related to seed cleaning and the safer handling of agrochemicals.
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