PESHAWAR: A delegation of the World Bank has assured the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government of its increased support in the development sector.
The message was conveyed during a meeting between the World Bank Country Director Melinda Good with KP Planning and Development Department Additional Chief Secretary Shahzad Khan Bangash, when the former called on the latter at Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Friday evening.
While the World Bank had already been supporting a number of programmes, including Governance and Policy project, Economic Revitalisation Programme, Southern Areas Development Project (SAP), and National Immunisation Support Project, in addition to helping the province obtain loans from International Development Association (IDA).
During the meeting, it was revealed that the support would further be increased in promotion and development of tourism, agriculture, energy and microfinance sectors.
It is worth mentioning here that the US$ 22 million World Bank supported SAP project was aimed at strengthening the capacity of the poor to improve their livelihood options through access to social and productive infrastructure. The districts selected for this project included, Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank.
The US$ 10 million Governance and Policy project was initiated to strengthen the capacity of the provincial government for collection of sale tax on services, and improving public investment management and accountability of public service delivery in the water sector in KP.
Meanwhile, under the US$ 12 million Economic Revitalization Programme, the World Bank had been supporting the creation of sustainable employment opportunities, generating private sector investment, and laying the foundation for the future development of selected economic sectors in the province.
Moreover, the National Immunisation Support Project was estimated to be around US$ 90 million.
