Fact-checking Trump: US disbursed just $1.88 billion to Pakistan in 10 years

ISLAMABAD: Amid lingering stalemate erupted with Donald Trump’s latest tweet for doling out $33 billion to Pakistan, Islamabad’s official data shows that Washington has disbursed just peanuts for total 53 development projects/heads to the tune of $1.876 billion in name of economic assistance during last ten years of democratically elected governments.

US has disbursed around $200 million on average on annual basis during the last decade under civilian rule from 2007-8 to end June 2017 on front of economic assistance, the official data prepared by Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and exclusively available with The News disclosed on Tuesday.

US disbursement remained a complicated subject because they always calculated assistance in shape of kinds, services and cash grants utilised through USAID. Most of the grant money remained off budget and spent by USAID through INGOs.

The official datasheet compiled for all 53 projects funded by USA in last 10 years showed that there was huge gap between commitment and actual disbursement amounts. There have been few exceptions as majority of the projects failed to get whole committed amounts during last one decade.

“The US had committed economic assistance to the tune of $3,522.94 million billion for total 53 projects/heads in last ten years against which total disbursement made from 2007-8 to 2016-17 stood at $1,876.77 million, indicating that the total disbursement was standing at just 53.26 percent in last 10 years,” official documents showed.

The US committed grant of $44.42 million for SOGA-Governance-III and the program signed on 26-05-2005 and closing date was 30-9-2010 but its disbursement remained $32.38 million. The Governance-4 project was signed by USA with Pakistan on 11-8-2006 with closing date of 30-9-2014 and its committed amount stood at $22.57 million but disbursement remained at $11.01 million in nine years. For economic growth project-2, US and Pakistan signed grant amount of $49.84 million on 26-5-2005 with closing date of 30-9-2014 but the disbursement stood at $30.43 million.

For Guddu Thermal Power Station repair, both the countries signed grant agreement on 25-3-2010 with closing date of 31-7-2015 with the committed amount of $18.07 million but the disbursement remained at $17.08 million. For Jamshoro Thermal Power Plant repair, the grant amount of $19.36 million was signed on 25-3-2010 with the closing date of 30-6-2016 and the disbursement amount was $19.02 million.

For Muzzaffargarh Thermal Power Station repair, the grant amount was signed on 25-3-2010 with the closing date of 31-7-2017 with the committed amount of $15.19 million but the disbursed amount stood at $12.69 million. For health and population-2 project, the grant amount of $127.22 million was signed on 26-5-2005 with closing date of 30-9-2014 but its disbursement stood at just $71.86 million. The US had signed $200 million for Earthquake Reconstruction on 21-01-2006 with the closing date of 30-9-2014 but its disbursement stood at just $63.74 million.

For FATA Development Program, the US signed grant amount of $73 million on 30-9-2007 with the closing date of 30-9-2015 but the disbursed amount stood at $58.01 million.

Both sides had signed another Fata Development Program on 22-9-2008 with closing date of 30-9-2016 with total committed amount of $20.46 million but the disbursed amount was just standing at $3.78 million.

For Fata Development Program-4, US signed grant amount of $126.73 million on 30-9-2009 with the closing date of 30-9-2017 and so far disbursed amount up to June 30, 2017 stood at $101.99 million.

USA and Pakistan had signed $48.20 million for Quick Impact Reconstruction of Fata on 10-3-2011 with closing date of 31-12-2015 and its disbursement remained impressive and stood at $47.54 million.

For Qalat-Quetta-Chaman Road project, US committed grant amount of $90 million on 12-5-2014 with the closing date of 31-12-2017 and so far disbursed amount stood at $57.42 million up to June 30, 2017.

For Law Enforcement Agencies, USA had committed $20.42 million on 27-9-2007 with the closing date of 30-9-2008 and whole amount was disbursed within the stipulated timeframe.

For Law Enforcement, Capacity & Reforms and and Law Enforcement Development, two projects were signed with committed amount of $3.16 million and $17 million respectively and whole amounts were disbursed.

For Competitiveness Support Fund, US had committed $3 million on 30-6-2010 but the disbursed amount up to June 30, 2017 was standing at $0.88 million.

For Education-III project, US signed grant amount of $192.03 million on 26-5-2005 with the closing date of 30-9-2014 but the disbursement stood at $65.7 million.

For Merit & Need Scholarship program, US had committed grant amount of $23.1 million on 30-9-2013 with closing date of 30-9-2020 and so far disbursed amount stood at $5.77 million up to June 30, 2017.

Against committed amount of $40 million for Gomal Zam Dam signed on 7-1-2011 with the closing date of 31-12-2017, so far disbursed amount stood at $33.76 million up to June 30, 2017.

For PEPA Agriculture Project, USA had committed $56.49 million on 30-9-2010 with the closing date of 31-12-2014 but the disbursement remained dismal and stood at just $0.82 million.

For PEPA Democracy and Governance, USA had committed $98.91 million and signed agreement on 30-9-2010 with closing date of 31-12-2015 but the disbursement amount stood at just $2.02 million.

For PEPA Education, USA signed grant agreement of $179.45 million on 30-9-2010 with the closing date of 31-12-2017 but the disbursed amount up to June 30, 2017 stood at just $9.76 million.

For Economic Opportunity, USA signed grant agreement of $144 million on 30-9-2010 with the closing date of 31-12-2014 but the disbursement stood at only $0.17 million.

For Pepa Energy Project, USA signed grant agreement of $44 million on 30-9-2010 with the closing date of 31-12-2014 but its disbursement was just standing at $0.72 million.

For PEPA FATA grant of $111.26 million signed on 30-9-2010 with the closing date of 31-12-2017, the disbursed amount up to June 30, 2017 stood at $110.13 million. For PEPA KPK, US committed amount of $65.96 million and its disbursement up to June 30, 2017 stood at $33.28 million.

The US committed and disbursed whole amount of $190 million for Citizen Damage and Compensation Program.

For Satpara dam project, US committed $26 million and disbursed $13 million.

For Mangla Rehabilitation Project, USA had committed $150 million and signed grant agreement on 15-8-2013 with closing date of 31-12-2017 but the disbursement amount up to June 30, 2017 stood at just $13.2 million only.

For KPK Municipal Program, US disbursed only $0.31 million against committed amount of $55 million.

For Municipal Services Program, USA committed $116.77 million and grant agreement was signed on 9-2-2012 with the closing date of 25-4-2018 but the disbursed amount stood at $30.84 million up to June 30, 2017.

For Sindh Basic Education Program, USA had committed $81 million on 21-9-2011 with the closing date of 31-12-2017 but the disbursed amount was standing at 32.73 million up to June 30, 2017.