The World bank will provide Pakistan with a development loan worth US $650 million to support projects in education, health, water and disaster sectors of Pakistan. Here is the breakdown. The loans are targetted to develop the infrastructure and governance for a promissing entrepreneurial ecosystem :
1)$200 million would be given for Balochistan Integrated Water Resources Management and Development Project :
WHY : Develop and strengthen the capacity of provincial government to manage and mointor water resources and to improve community based water management for targeted irrigation schemes in Balochistan.
2)$300 million to be given out to Punjab Education Sector Project (PESP III):
WHY:To improve school participation,completion and to develop learning practices with a particular focus on Low Performing Districts.
3)$100 million for Sindh Resilience Project:
WHY: To manage flood affected areas and drought risks in selected areas. To strengthen Sindh’s capacity to manage natural disasters ,improve Infrastructure and Systems for Resilience and contingent Emergency Response.
4)$50 million would be given by the World Bank for National Immunization Support Project(NISP) WHY: to increase the equitable coverage of services for immunization against Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD), including poliomyelitis, for children between 0 and 23 months in Pakistan.
The processing of new loans is always a question mark and the public views them as a “burden on the economy” because of the way they have been utilised in the past. The bigger challenge lies with the executing bodies and partner organisations in the private sector who are responsible for building the infrastructure and who may also be the clients of the governemnt for these roles. The future of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is influenced by all these stakeholders and their ability to perform will drive the wealth generation in the economy.
