PESHAWEAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government removed project manager of the Economic Revitalisation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata (ERKF) project for inefficiency and holding a flop investment road-show (IRS) in Karachi on September 19 to attract investment into the province.
The sources told The News that Planning and Development Department (P&D) had conveyed reservations to the Industries Department that the World Bank’s $20 million project to revitalise business activities and address the economic recovery and rehabilitation needs in the insurgency and flood-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata ) was being run in inefficient manner.
It was conveyed to the project manager that the project was far behind its schedule and it could not lend 10 percent of the amount aimed at the recovery of militancy-shattered areas.
The ERKF project, being financed by the World Bank through a grant of $20 million and based on Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), comprises of the components of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development, investment mobilisation and institutional capacity building to foster investment and reforms.
According to the concept paper of the project, 65 percent of the grant is supposed to go to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Fata will get 35 percent of the total grant of the $20 million.
The SME development is the major component of the project to the tune of $14 million which provides direct support to the crisis-affected SMEs through matching grants programme.
The identified affected SMEs in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were supposed to get $9.1 million while $4.9 million to be spent in Fata on the revitalisation and development of the SMEs and a single SME can get the grant of Rs3.5 million under the SMEs development component.
Under the investment mobilisation component, the donors have extended $2 million financial and technical support to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata to attracting investment from Diaspora to generate economic activities and link the two economies to the domestic and international markets.
Pre-feasibility for Diaspora Bond and an outreach programme to attract Diaspora investment through investment road shows (IRS) and “Made in Pakistan” exhibitions with focus on KP, annual Pakistan Diaspora Conference “Khushamdid (welcome) Pakistan and re-Connect Pakistan (web tool for Diaspora) were to be planned to mobilise investment.
However, the project did not deliver as per schedule and less than 10 percent of the funds were distributed to the deserving applicants and its initial evaluation by the P&D revealed that it was far behind its schedule and could not be completed its interventions till its June 2014 schedule time, the sources added.
They said the project management arranged an investment road-show (IRS) in Karachi on September 19 on which over Rs250 million was spent, but it failed to fetch local and foreign investors that irked both the business community and government circles.
The provincial government immediately after the road-show initiated a probe into the matter while it was also forced by the business community, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI), to take action against those responsible for the failure of the IRS.
The government after a brief probe removed the project manager, Khalid Jan, and repatriated him to his parent Industries Department, where he will serves as Assistant Economy Advisor.
