Post Crisis Needs Assessment: World Bank hopes for better progress

Rachid Benmessaoud says regular meeting are necessary for development work.

PESHAWAR: A Post Crisis Needs Assessment (PCNA) is important to identify and find solutions to problems in the tribal areas, said Fata Secretary Planning and Development (P&D), Shahzad Khan Bangash.

The PCNA was developed by the Asian Development Bank, European Union, World Bank and United Nations and the government with the goal of to help fight militancy and ensure peace.

“We expect that some success stories will be shared in the next portfolio review meeting,” said Bangash while addressing the Multi Donors Trust Funds (MDTF) meeting held at the Fata Secretariat.

Chaired by Bangash and World Bank (WB) Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud, the meeting was attended by high-level officials of the secretariat and World Bank.

Speaking on the occasion, Benmessaoud stressed the need for regular review meetings to ensure effective implementation of the MDTF projects. “Such meetings could help us timely address any issues or bottlenecks,” he said.

“I hope that in the next portfolio review meeting we will be discussing results which benefit the people as opposed to processes,” he added.

Various project directors made presentations of their respective work and shared their progress with the World Bank team.



Meanwhile, a Project Review Board meeting of the Area Development Project for Frontier Regions (ADP-FRs) was chaired by Bangash and attended by Fata Secretariat Projects Director- General Mazhar Ali Shah, directors of Line Departments and Assistant Political Agents of Frontier Regions among others.

Project Director Junaid Khan, while briefing about the project, said that the Italian Debt Swap Project of Rs700 million that started in April 2010 is scheduled to end in March 2013.

The project, implemented in Frontier Regions including Bannu, Kohat, DI Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank has completed 245 development schemes in the local government sector.

“Line departments will be responsible for preparing feasibility reports of projects to ensure their suitability and effectiveness as per the Fata Secretariat’s policy,” said Shah. Finally, the work plan was approved with a total cost of Rs66.2 million. Deadlines for completion of these projects are in April 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2012.