Efforts being made to finalise next NFC Award by year-end: Dar

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that efforts are being made to finalise the next NFC Award by December 31 this year and an important meeting in this regard would be held in Lahore on September 5. He was talking to newsmen along with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah after a meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon. Giving details about the meeting, the minister said the meeting reviewed implementation of the NFC Award. Speaking on the occasion, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah said the federal government was making efforts to finalise the award at the earliest. Earlier, Finance Minister Dar approved the first biannual monitoring report of the National Finance Commission for July to December last year. There was no objection from any province on financial figures of the report. Pakistan and Asian Development Bank have signed a loan agreement of around two hundred million dollars for Sindh Provincial Roads Improvement Projects. An agreement to this effect was signed by Secretary Economic Affairs Division Tariq Bajwa and ADB Country Director to Pakistan Werner E Liepach in Islamabad on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, the finance minister said the government was committed to mobilising all possible resources for improving and developing transport sector and inter-provincial linkages for enhanced local connectivity. He said inter-provincial connectivity would generate economic activity for the progress of people of Sindh.