Pakistan: Funds for conflict-ridden Khyber-Pakthunkhwa districts go unused

By Shahbaz Rana

The $18 million funds – pooled by various countries to lessen hardships of people affected by armed conflict in three least developed districts of Khyber-Pakthunkhwa (K-P) – largely remain unutilised as the project is going to end next year without achieving its objectives.

The funds for the K-P Southern Area Development Project (K-P-SADP) were allocated out of $180 million donated by 11 countries and are being spent through World Bank-administrated Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). The WB charges 7.5% of the commitments as an administration fee.

So far, only $2.8 million or 15.5% of total budget is spent, as the project is going to lapse by June next year without achieving the core goal – enhancement of employment and livelihood opportunities for the poorest communities in the poorest districts, according to documents of the project.

The project’s completion time coincides with completion of phase-I of the MDTF. However, the WB’s Vice President for South Asia can extend the MDTF for another three years, provided the donors agree to that. The project was envisaged to provide trainings to the locals in learning small trades besides building community infrastructure in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Lakki-Marwat, which are the most neglected districts of the province and affected by ongoing war against extremism.

At a time when there was no progress on the project, the K-P government is seeking Rs50,000 monthly compensatory allowance for Dera Ismail Khan’s commissioner, who is holding additional charge of the project director, showed the documents.

The outcomes of the project may compound problems for the federal government that is already struggling to attract additional financing due to lack of utilisation of previous committed funds by donors.

In the recently held donors’ meeting, the government could not get additional $2 billion for rehabilitation of IDPs, as the donors committed only $690 million, mainly by diverting earlier commitments.

For the last financial year 2013-14, Rs785 million were approved for various schemes but the actual spending was just Rs171 million or 21.8%, showed the documents.

Only 4% of the community development support budget could be utilised while on productive infrastructure the spending was 5% of the annual allocation. While there was almost negligible progress on the project components during the course of the year, the authorities consumed 80% of the project support allocation, which was primarily on account of salaries.

In 2013-14, only 40% work could be fully finished while progress on 50 small-scale schemes was from only 5% to 80%. The nature of work on these schemes suggests that the work could have been completed in a matter of few months.