Business Recorder reported that Pakistan has sought assistance from Friends of Pakistan for 54 mega development projects including USD 8.4 billion Diamer Bhasha dam and Neelum Jhelum hydropower project.

According to the sources, a formal announcement for assistance may come in the next ministerial meeting of the FOP that the Japanese government has offered to host.

Friends of Pakistan forum, considered to be President Mr Asif Ali Zardari's brainchild was launched in New York on September 26th 2008 on the sidelines of the 63rd United Nations General Assembly meeting held in New York. The FOP membership consists of countries that are also members of the aid to Pakistan consortium, which was constituted in 1960 by the World Bank in an effort to facilitate co-ordination amongst the major assistance providers to Pakistan as well as for other debtor countries.

The second meeting of the FOP was held in Dubai on November 17th 2008 with Pakistan and the UAE joint hosts. At that time, the Pakistan government had submitted proposals for 71 projects, costing a total of USD 60 billion which was labeled by several friends of Pakistan as a wish list.

The government has since scaled down its expectations and has sent a list of 54 projects to the FOP, though the exact cost of these projects has not been made known. However, the Planning Commission is also working on identifying projects near completion for which funding is not available from the domestic resources due to paucity of funds.

The sources said that the government was focusing on the energy projects that could bail out the economy of the country. The energy crisis has hit the economy that could lead to reduction in growth rate.

(Sourced from Business Recorder)