ISLAMABAD: A portion of the technical assistance worth $60 million approved by the World Bank (WB) will be used for poverty scorecard survey under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), it is learnt. The government is conducting a pilot survey in ed 16 districts of the country to identify households living below the poverty line. The survey will be completed by the end of July. To conduct the poverty scorecard survey, services of National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) has been hired by the authorities concerned owing to the organisation’s network in all parts, especially in rural areas of the country. “This survey will be extended to all over Pakistan in order to determine the exact number of people living below the poverty line,” said the official sources. The donors had already objected to the involvement of parliamentarians in the ion of people qualifying for Rs1,000 per month under the BISP. Now the government is conducting the poverty scorecard survey in order to identify households living below the poverty line, which will replace the existing list of people who are getting Rs1,000 per month under the programme. However, a spokesperson for the WB confirmed to The News on Friday that the technical assistance of $60 million would also be used for rolling out the poverty scorecard survey in Pakistan. When the spokesperson was asked that the Technical Assistance or TA loan provide by the WB would be used for conducting survey of the BISP, she replied “If by ‘survey’ you mean the roll-out of the poverty score card, then yes.” Answering another query about the objectives of TA loan, she said the project aims at strengthening the administration and performance of the country’s safety net. “It’s objective is to enhance the operation and management of a nationwide, effective and transparent safety net system for the poor in Pakistan,” she added. To another query about the exact date for approving another $200 million loan to be approved by the WB for the BISP, she replied that it was expected soon but exact date in this regard was not yet finalized. However, the official sources say that the WB is likely to approve $200 million for BISP within the ongoing month (June 2009). Earlier, there were expectations that the WB would approve $200 million for BISP on June 18, 2009 but it was delayed because some procedural requirements could not be completed well on time. “There will be no problem in approving $200 million for BISP and it will be approved within next few days,” said the official.