World Bank agrees to finance $565 million energy, water projects

KARACHI: The Economic Affairs Division (EAD) signed two financing agreements worth $565 million with the World Bank on Wednesday to finance two projects in the energy transmission and water sectors.

EAD Secretary Syed Ghazanfar Abbas Jilani signed the loan agreements on behalf of the government while representatives of Sindh government and National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) signed the project agreements. World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan signed the agreements on behalf of the World Bank.

EAD secretary thanked the World Bank for extending its continuous support to the government of Pakistan in its efforts to achieve sustainable economic development in the country.

The energy sector project ‘National Transmission Modernisation (Phase-I)’ is worth $536.33 million, of which the World Bank will finance $425.0 million, while $111.33 million will be borne by the NTDC, a statement said.

The project aims to increase the capacity and reliability of selected systems in the national transmission system, and modernise key business processes of the NTDC. The project will support investments in high-priority transmission infrastructure, information and communication technology (ICT), and technical assistance (TA) for improved management and operations.

Infrastructure investments will create new assets or rehabilitate existing parts of the system transmission substations, transmission lines, or a combination of the two.

“The project will establish a robust ICT infrastructure and roll out an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to enhance the efficiency of management and operations. The TA will help the NTDC implement the project and improve the company’s capacity for sustainable system operation,” the statement added.

The Sindh Barrages Improvement Project requires additional $152.2 million, of which additional financing is $140 million, while incremental counterpart funds worth $12.2 million will be provided by the government of Sindh.

“The project’s development objectives are to improve the reliability and safety of the Guddu barrage and strengthen the Sindh Irrigation Department’s capacity to operate and manage the barrage,” the statement said.

The additional financing would help scale up activities under the original project (Sindh Barrages Improvement Project) whose scope at present was limited to rehabilitating and modernising Guddu Barrage.

“With the additional financing, the project will support the rehabilitation and modernisation of Sukkur Barrage and also support improving the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the three barrages over the Indus River in Sindh Province – Guddu, Sukkur, and Kotri Barrages – through better coordination and monitoring,” it said.