The “Punjab Resilient and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation Project” worth $200 million and the “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Accessibility Project” worth $300 million are among the two finance agreements the Pakistani government has signed with the World Bank totaling $500 million.
The finance agreements were signed on behalf of the Pakistani government by Dr. Kazim Niaz, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and on behalf of the World Bank by Najy Benhassine, Country Director.
The Punjab Resilient and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation Project aims to increase farmers’ earnings, especially those of small and medium landowners, while also increasing access to and productivity of agricultural water. The initiative will help make Punjab’s agriculture a more diverse, successful, sustainable, and market-oriented industry.
The project will assist the Punjabi government in addressing issues such as low farm productivity, low crop diversification toward higher-value crops and away from more water-intensive crops, low adoption of climate-smart production practises, and limited investment opportunities for small and medium farmers.
The $300 million KP project aims to increase safe and climatically resilient rural access to province’s markets, schools, and healthcare services. The project interventions will aid the KP government in improving and rehabilitating provincial roads, enhancing the infrastructure’s resiliency to climate change, including raising embankments, installing side drains and bridges, improving culverts, ditches, and vegetation, and enhancing road safety equipment and infrastructure near schools, hospitals, and markets.
While speaking at the event, Dr. Niaz reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to provide all assistance to the province governments in meeting their budgetary demands in order to help them overcome development obstacles and achieve more equitable and sustainable economic growth in the country.
The World Bank and the Ministry of Economic Affairs inked three more significant projects for $690 million (including a $82 million grant) in October for land management, the expansion of Punjab’s housing market, and national-level health sector initiatives.
