ISLAMABAD: The World Bank diverted $615 million from the slow-paced projects to the flood-affected areas to assist a speedy rehabilitation and reconstruction process. Pakistan was unable to complete the slow-paced scheme projects due to a variety of implementation issues.
At the Climate Resilient Pakistan Conference in Geneva, the World Bank announced $2 billion for the flood disaster that will be used for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Following the World Bank’s approval of loans for a variety of flood-related projects,From the $2 billion that the World Bank pledged at Geneva, around $615 million was taken from ongoing, slow projects that could not be expedited.
In Pakistan, the World Bank is providing International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans totaling $13 billion to support 54 operations. However, compared to 61% of federal projects last year, 67% of the portfolio was still unpaid.
Foreign-funded projects were constantly restructured owing to implementation problems and were consistently behind schedule. At the Geneva meeting, Pakistan received pledges totaling $9.7 billion, including $2 billion from the World Bank in various forms.
A month before the Geneva conference, in December, the World Bank approved $1.3 billion in projects. The World Bank first announced in September of last year that it would provide $2 billion for flood-related activities.
At least nine problematic projects, totaling more than $730 million in loan cancellations, including $400 million in concessionary financing, were detected by the World Bank in August last year. Due to the ineffectiveness of the Pakistani authorities, several initiatives were abandoned.
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