Business

ADB to help Pakistan build climate–resilient infrastructure

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

INCHEON: In a major development, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) expressed commitment to help build the much-needed climate-resilient infrastructure for Pakistan — which faced over $30 billion in losses after the devastating floods caused by heavy rains last year.

It will be a great assistance by one of the world’s top financial institutions to the cash-strapped nation that is still struggling to strengthen its economy which suffered a serious blow caused by economic slowdown during the deadly Coronavirus, worldwide shortage of petroleum products and food inflation after the Russia-Ukraine war, and devaluation of Pakistani currency against the dollar.

With an objective of improved preparedness, the bank would help Pakistan in “strengthening infrastructure in such a way that if similar floods take place in future that infrastructure is strong enough to stand there,” Director General of Central and West Asia Department Yevgeniy Zhukov said while talking to APP on the sidelines of ADB’s 56th annual Board of Governors meeting that concluded last week in South Korean city – Incheon.

He said a lot of work was being done in the flood-emergency-related assistance adding that the focus would not only be on repairing the damages caused by last year’s floods but also on making the structures flood-resilient.

Seconding Zhukov’s damage-mitigation strategy, Country Director Pakistan Resident Mission Yong Ye told the news agency that some temporary structures would be in place hopefully this year before the possible flood in summer. He said there would be some protections “before the flood comes and the infrastructure is made climate-resilient.”

He said some of the existing infrastructure was damaged during last year’s floods; however, these had been restored with the ADB’s prompt support.

Seeing the wide-scale destruction and the loss of billions of dollars to the Pakistani economy, foreign experts and donor agencies described it as one of the top countries facing severe impacts of climate change.

In future, Yong said the bank looked at a much more comprehensive approach and was carrying out an upstream assessment of each factor of climate resilience/disaster resilience and analytical work to devise a strategy and an open institutional set-up for ‘quickening the measures.’

Yong said the ADB had also established its national disaster risk management funds under which it would provide the community flood protection structure.

As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, the ADB aims to deliver $100 billion in climate financing from 2019 to 2030.

Last week during the annual moot, the ADB launched the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP), which would use guarantees from partners as leverage to accelerate billions of dollars in the much-needed climate investment. The facility would be effective from early 2024.

The finance facility would also be applicable to Pakistan not only for designing new projects but also preparing a strategy to effectively counter the negative impacts of climate change. This facility could be used to channelize the funding.

This year, the ADB conference was held at a time when Pakistan recently witnessed massive floods caused by torrential rains, inflicting losses of over $30 billion to the national economy that created issues of food security, damaged infrastructure, washed away livestock and collapsed houses.

Weather experts have forecast another spell of heavy downpours in parts of the country this season, which could lead to further devastation of the already calamity-hit nation.

Business

SFD and Pakistan Sign Two Deals Totaling $1.61BLN

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

Two agreements totaling $1.61 billion have been inked by Pakistan and the Saudi Fund for Development to improve their bilateral economic cooperation.

Business

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign an MOU to strengthen their auditing industry collaboration.

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

A spokesperson for the office of the Auditor-General of Pakistan (AGP) announced on Monday that the two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in public sector auditing through improved cooperation between audit institutions of both countries, as well as training programs and the exchange of trainers.

This comes as a group from Saudi Arabia’s General Court of Audit (GCA), headed by GCA President Dr. Hussam bin Abdulmohsen Alangari, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for a four-day visit.

The agreement was signed during AGP Muhammad Ajmal Gondal’s meeting with the Saudi delegates, aiming to strengthen audit cooperation, enhance knowledge-sharing, and improve governance, transparency and accountability in government spending.

Public relations officer Muhammad Raza Irfan of the AGP’s office told Arab News that the deal will further advance bilateral collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in addition to enhancing professional ties between the two nations’ auditing institutions.

In a statement released from his office, AGP Gondal was cited as saying, “This collaboration marks a significant step toward fostering international cooperation in auditing.”

“The exchange of ideas and methodologies will undoubtedly strengthen our capacity to meet emerging challenges and set new benchmarks for public accountability.”

Discussions at Monday’s meeting focused on fostering closer ties between the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, sharing innovative audit methodologies, and planning collaborative initiatives for the future, according to the AGP office.

The two parties decided to increase their knowledge of theme, environmental, and impact audits as well as to exchange best practices in audit standards, performance audits, and citizen participation audits.

The statement added, “It also agreed to exchange trainers, address new auditing challenges, plan cooperative audits, including a performance audit on the oil and gas sector in 2025, and work together on training programs.”

Both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to promoting transparency, accountability and excellence in public sector auditing.

Business

The government chooses to continue the PIA privatization process.

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization process will be restarted by the federal government, and expressions of interest would be requested within the month. Officials stated that the Prime Minister’s Committee on Privatization will convene to make the final decision.

Usman Bajwa, the secretary of the Privatization Commission, gave a briefing on the updated procedure to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatization. Additionally, he disclosed that airlines other than PIA are now able to compete with regional carriers thanks to IMF-approved aircraft tax concessions.

Farooq Sattar, the chairman of the privatization committee, underlined the importance of giving PIA workers at least five years of job security. Employee protection will continue to be a top priority and will be resolved prior to bidding, the Privatization Commission promised.

PIA’s liabilities totaling Rs650 billion have already been assumed by the government, and an additional Rs45 billion in outstanding debts must be paid before the privatization process can begin. As of the now, PIA has assets around Rs155 billion and liabilities worth Rs200 billion. It will be necessary for the new buyer to expand the fleet by 15 to 20 aircraft.

Additionally, the Privatization Committee has sought a timeline for the privatization of Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Islamabad Electric Supply Companies. Officials stated that after the appointment of a financial advisor, the privatization process for these companies will accelerate.