ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Senator Ishaq Dar Wednesday witnessed the signing ceremony of four agreements worth $650 million with the World Bank to support various projects.

Out of the total amount, $200 million have been allocated for the Balochistan integrated water resources management and development project.

The objectives are to strengthen provincial government capacity for water resources monitoring and management and to improve community-based water management for targeted irrigation schemes in Balochistan.

The project consists of institutions, capacity and information, water infrastructure and management investment along with project management and technical assistance.

Representatives from Punjab signed a $300 million Third Punjab Education Sector Project (PESP-III).

The objective is to support Punjab to improve school participation, completion and teaching-learning practices with a particular focus on Low Performing Districts.

The project consists of improved access, quality and education system management along with capacity building, project management, monitoring and evaluation.

The Sindh resilience project, amounting to $100 million, was also included in the agreement.

The objectives of the project are to mitigate flood and drought risks in selected areas and to strengthen Sindh’s capacity to manage natural disasters.

The project consists of strengthening disaster and climate risk management, improving infrastructure and systems for resilience along with contingent emergency response.

The fourth agreement included the National Immunisation Support Project (NISP), amounting to $50 million, and a multi-donor trust fund grant of $39.68 million for NISP.

The objective of the project is to increase the equitable coverage of services for immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases, including poliomyelitis, for children up to 23 months in Pakistan.

The project consists of strengthening management, governance and stewardship functions, improving service delivery performance, demand generation, vaccine supply chain along with improving capacity for increased immunisation coverage.

On the occasion, Senator Dar said he hopes that the completion of these projects will add to the general welfare of the public as promised by the government. He also thanked World Bank representatives for their support.

In his remarks, World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan appreciated Pakistan’s progress in economic reform and stabilisation, especially over the last three years.