ISLAMABAD: The implementation of 40 development and humanitarian projects as part of a $200 million initiative launched by the UAE and Pakistan has already started in the country, officials said on Sunday.
Titled the UAE-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP), the project aims to ensure the development of five main sectors, including infrastructure, education, healthcare, water, and agriculture.
“Under the latest directives issued by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the implementation of the projects has begun in Pakistan at a cost of $200 million,” the UAE Embassy in Pakistan tweeted on Sunday.
It added that the project, which is “funded by the Abu Dhabi Development Fund” will also provide “food assistance to poor families and displaced people, as well as anti-polio vaccination campaigns”.
Among the several initiatives to be undertaken by the UAE-PAP will be the construction of the 42-kilometer Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa highway, a 65-kilometer highway in Balochistan, construction of one college and two schools for 1,500 students in Balochistan, and the construction of a cardiac hospital in Quetta.
Additionally, nearly 29 projects are being dedicated to ensuring the steady supply of water to villages and cities that have limited access to clean drinking water. The projects will also include the construction of the first date factory in Pakistan.
The UAE-PAP’s mission is to execute development projects that offer sustainability and continuous benefits to residents in the long run. The program’s first and second phase saw a total of 165 projects being implemented between 2011 and 2017, at a total cost of $420 million.
Alongside developmental projects, more than 371.1 million units of polio vaccines have been provided to more than 57 million children between 2014 and December 2018, as part of an anti-polio drive launched by the UAE-PAP across the country.
The campaign is being implemented in several parts of the country with the support of more than 96,000 workers, including doctors and nurses, and more than 25,000 team members.
