PESHAWAR: The Multi-Donors Trust Fund’s (MDTF) Grant Review and Monitoring Committee (GRMC), during a meeting held here in the regional office of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda), has refused to approve any grant for the Economic Revitalisation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA (ERKF) until the implementation of the previous decisions of the panel.
The $20 million worth MDTF funded project for the ERKF, which was initiated under the auspices of the World Bank and its objective was to off-set the adverse effects of the crisis caused by militancy and flood of July 2010 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The GRMC members expressed great concern over the non-payment of grants in the already approved cases on the pretext that the cases are under investigation in National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The issues discussed in GRMC on number of times were conveyed to the provincial government and Provincial Steering Committee, but both forums failed to address the issues of SMEs despite passing more than eight months.
Under the $14 million SME development component of the Project a share of $9.1 million and $4.9 million were allocated for the rehabilitation of the SMEs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA respectively.
