Washington asks Pakistan for 'realistic wish list' of energy projects for US funding

Islamabad, Sept 15(ANI): Even as the United States has shown willingness to finance large-scale energy projects in Pakistan, Islamabad has yet to prioritise its 'wish list', forcing Washington to ask Pakistani officials to focus only on strategically important projects, a Pakistani newspaper has said.

Among the goals of the Fourth Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue was to identify projects that the US might be able to fund as part of the 7.5-billion-dollar Kerry-Lugar civilian assistance package for Pakistan, The Express Tribune reports.

Pakistani officials gave an overview of the energy situation in the country and then listed a series of large-scale projects that they wanted to be funded, but there appeared to be little coordination between the various government departments that made presentations.

The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) sought US financing for the Diamer Basha Dam, the Dasu and Bunji dams, while the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) asked for funding for thermal power generation projects, the paper quoted a Water and Power Ministry official, as saying.

The lack of coordination comes even as the US appears to have conceded on a key Pakistani demand, that Washington finance a smaller number of large, 'visible' and strategically important projects rather than the dozens of smaller projects that it currently seems to be funding, the paper said.

The largest programme that the US has funded thus far - providing money for the Watan Cards compensation scheme for flood victims - cost 190 million dollars, while many of the US-funded projects cost as little as 4 million dollars.

The reason for the smaller scale of Washington-funded projects is what is known as the 'earmark' system in the US legislative process, whereby American lawmakers are allowed to request funding for proposals of their choosing, said the paper.

This diverts funding from projects needed by Pakistan to those, which US lawmakers think are important, based on their domestic, US-based constituencies, it added.

Much of the US funding, thus far under the Kerry-Lugar bill, has gone to projects that were so small that they did not need foreign financing, the paper said. (ANI)