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Zardari seeks ADB’s help for development

* Tells ADB delegation to provide funds for navigation project and agriculture sectors

By Sajid Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assist Pakistan in setting up a navigation project to connect Karachi with the Kalabagh area in the country’s north.

The project would enable low-cost transportation of goods from Karachi port to northern areas of the country.

The president was talking to an ADB team, led by the bank’s Vice President Xiaoyu Zhao, which met him at the Presidency to discuss economic issues and areas where the ADB could offer its assistance.

Zardari said one of the areas that needed urgent attention and in which the bank could lend its assistance was the establishment of research centres for efficient utilisation of irrigation water and the development of high-yield, disease-resistant hybrid seeds of cotton, rice and sugarcane.

He said the government was already engaged with China in this regard, adding that he planned to visit China every three months to monitor the progress on the joint projects in these areas.

The president also highlighted the need for building storage capacity for agriculture harvest and oil through public-private partnership.

Under the plan, Zardari said, private entrepreneurs would be encouraged to set up the storage facilities, which the government would subsequently acquire on lease for mutual benefit.

The ADB vice president said the bank would consider the proposition.

Zhao said the ADB was considering to increase the annual economic assistance to Pakistan after the success of the country’s macroeconomic stability programme.

The ADB vice president said the bank had been encouraged by improvements in Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators, which had strengthened the possibilities of increased economic assistance to the country.

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