The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $25 million loan to help Pakistan prepare and implement an infrastructure development programme that will support the country's economic growth and curb poverty, the ADB said in a statement. Short, medium and long-term investment plans will be prepared under the programme to help the government develop its infrastructure in an integrated manner. The ADB loan envisages an environment for infrastructure investment to attract public and private participation and bilateral and multilateral agencies. The timely development and implementation of infrastructure investment projects are indispensable to economic progress, said Rune Stroem, ADB principal energy specialist, according to the statement. In the power sector, the ADB will help prepare subprojects to address shortcomings in power generation, expand transmission and distribution systems, build the capacity of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, and boost eight new distribution companies. In the transport sector, the subprojects will cover road and railway project preparatory facilities, a model concession agreement for a public-private partnership, pilot project in national highways and motorways, and capacity building for government agencies in this sector. In the water sector, the project will primarily build capacity for water resource planning, development and management. It will also help provincial agencies prepare proposals for subprojects such as small storage structures, irrigation systems and groundwater management. A $150,000 technical assistance accompanies the loan to identify constraints on investment and implement solutions to remove them, the ADB release said.
