Conducting monitoring meeting on World Bank (WB) projects (PAK) in MOJ

Monitoring meeting on World Bank projects (PAK) was conducted in MOJ on Sunday, June 12, 2011 and chaired by the Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghalib.
First, representative of the World Bank Ms Loba was asked to explain the results of her discussions with the World Bank and she said:
The first phase of World Bank projects should be completed on June 30, 2011 and their extension depends on the second phase. The World Bank is also interested to start the second phase. Based on a letter we received from Ministry of Finance we found out that the government wants all the projects to be extended while the World Bank dosen’t agree with this idea. The Bank agrees will the extension of a limited number of the projects such as:
- Technical and operational expenses for administrative reform offices or (REMO offices)of Attorney General Office (AGO) and Supreme court (SC);
- Training of Judges and Ministry of Justice (MOJ) staff for which $150,000 has been considered;
- Ministry of Justice capacity building for which $80,000 has been considered;
- The fourth activity includes operational expenses and technical assistance for all three Justice Institutions (MOJ, AGO, SC). This activity is especially important for purchasing and distribution of books, training of librarians and establishing libraries in those three institutions. $400,000 has been considered for it.
- $150,000 has been estimated for judges Conference.
- Printing and dissemination of laws in MOJ for which $255,000 has been estimated. MOJ has purchased 65,000 law books (one pack) and should purchase two more packs; all three packs shall make a total of 380,000 law books.
- The seventh activity relates to technical assistance for legal forms of case management in AGO and we want to extend this process to provinces as well. The total cost for this project is $180,000.   
- Another activity is construction of courts in Baghlan and Herat provinces. for which  The total expense of  480,000 $ has been expected.
- This activity includes maintenance projects in AGO and MOJ. MOJ has not spent its $500,000 and has just  completed two of its projects. The total cost of these two projects is $65,000. Thus, $120,000 has been considered for two projects of MOJ and $100,000 for maintenance in AGO.
- The tenth activity is fulfilling Information Technology requirements of AGO for which $240,000 has been anticipated.
- Another activity includes operational expenses for legal aid projects which includes sub-contracts with defense attorneys. The total cost for this project is $2,700,000.
- Another activity includes public legal awareness for which $150,000 has been anticipated.
- Another activity includes operational expenses and technical assistance to Project Support Unit (PSU) for which $450,000 has been considered. The main concern of the World Bank is to extend the project as a whole. Any project which is not included in the list will not be credible to us.
The meeting was held with the participation of general administrative head of the Judiciary Abdul Malik Kamawi, deputy attorney general Amini, World Bank representative Ms Loba, Ministry of Finance representative, head of project support unit Azizi and administrative head of MOJ. This meeting was chaired by the Minister of Justice and problems of second phase will be decided in the next meeting.