UAE-PAP working on over 100 megaprojects

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirate-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP) is working on over 100 megaprojects in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with education and healthcare as its primary focus areas in the third phase of the project, said the top diplomat of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Islamabad.

Launched in January 2011, the objective of UAE-PAP was the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people of Pakistan and to aid development. The project, currently in its third phase, has completed 165 development and humanitarian projects.

“Last year in May, we signed a $200 million cooperation agreement to execute Phase III of the UAE-PAP. This was for more than 100 bigger projects in Balochistan and KP focusing on education and healthcare,” UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi said.

UAE-PAP has focused on the eradication of polio in Pakistan along with several projects aimed at water and agriculture sector, told Al-Zaabi. He spoke of the work done by Sheik Muhammad bin Rashid, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan foundations. “The Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Foundation has built many schools and hospitals in small villages of Muzaffarabad. They built hospitals, medical clinics, mobile clinics and schools in those areas where even vehicles cannot go,” he said in an interview with Arab News.