Murad Ali Shah asks World Bank for $69m to expedite work on Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and a World Bank delegation, led by its Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan, reviewed ongoing and new projects in their meeting at the CM House on Wednesday.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing development portfolio of infrastructure and sustainability, economy, public sector management reform, human development and four projects of Karachi worth $2 billion (approximately Rs309 billion), and also discussed the portfolio of $1.11 billion (Rs171.495 billion) in the pipeline.

KWSB

The meeting discussed the Karachi Water & Sewerage Services Improvement Project of $1.6 billion. Its phase-I of $600 million has three components: technical assistance, trainings and strategy development, which include HR, finance, assets management, social sector management and sewerage management.

Under the component-I, the government has to improve access to safe water services in Karachi and increase the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board’s (KWSB) financial and operational performance.

Local Government Secretary Roshan Shaikh told the meeting that the office space for establishing the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) has been allocated and would be handed over within a week. The CM said the project would be approved by the ECNEC very soon, but he has requested the federal government to expedite its approval.

The component-II is based on investment in the rehabilitation of the water and sewerage system, including in some Katchi Abadies, and reduce energy consumption by installing efficient machinery.

The component-III is project management and studies. The CM said the overhauling of the KWSB would be started to make it a self-sufficient organisation and one of the best institutions of the country in public service and service delivery.

Phase-II of the project is of $600 million for the introduction of reforms, the augmentation of the S-III and K-IV projects, bulk water supply and filtration plants. Phase-III of $470 million covers water supply in Katchi Abadies, development of sewerage system and support to the reform plan.

The projects reviewed in the meeting include six projects of infrastructure and sustainability. One of them concerns agriculture growth and would cost $76.4 million. The meeting decided to extend the closing dates of the project by giving it an extension beyond March 2020.

Under the Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Project of $187 million, a small component of development of flood shelters is being restructured. The closing date of the project is December 2020.

The Water Sector Improvement Project would cost $283 million. The standard operating procedure for the project is being prepared. Under the Barrage Improvement Project of $328 million, the meeting stressed gearing up rehabilitation works at the Sukkur Barrage.

The overall progress of the project was very slow due to low disbursement. Moreover, the meeting decided that under the project, the Sindh Water Policy would be framed very soon.

Resilience Project

The meeting was told that the PC-I of the projects are being modified so that the irrigation department could construct small dams from the savings of the project. The Multisectoral Action for Nutrition project of $5 million and the solar energy project of $100 million were also discussed.

In the economy sector, the Public Sector Management Reform project of $50 million was also reviewed. Under this project, the government servants’ capacity building and training have been undertaken. It was decided that the utilisation of funds for capacity building would be accelerated.

The Human Development Sector Response to Stunting project of $61.62 million was also reviewed, under which so far $4.95 million has been released by the donor agencies. The restructuring of the unit is in progress and will be approved by the Planning & Development (P&D) very soon.

Karachi

In Karachi, projects worth $738 million are in progress. They include the Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project of $86 million, against which $16.96 million has been released, which is 20 per cent of the total project cost. The CM urged the WB to release the remaining $69.6 million to expedite the pace of the project.

The Water & Sewerage Services Improvement Project of $40 million is yet to be started because funds have not been released for the project, said P&D Chairman Waseem.

The mobility project of $382 million is being implemented. The chairman said he was forming a team by appointing its project director and a designated account was being opened. He said the work on the project is slow because of the slow release of funds, as so far $960,000 has been released, so there was slow progress.

The Competitive and Livable City of Karachi Project of $230 million has been brought on track by providing it with the necessary staff. For the competitive component, 10 regulatory authorities have been identified.

New projects

The CM and the WB team also discussed new projects worth $1.11 billion. They included the Early Learning Enhancement Through Classroom Transformation of $100 million, the Water Resource & Agriculture Transformation of $250 million, the Resilience Project of $150 million, the Karachi Water & Sewerage Project Phase-II of $200 million, the Karachi Sewerage Services Project Phase-III of $260 million, and the Solid Waste Emergency & Efficiency Project (SWEEP) of $200 million.

The meeting decided that the provincial government would submit the necessary documents to the WB so that they could be approved to launch in 2021.

The meeting was also attended by CM’s Principal Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, Energy Secretary Musadiq Khan, Forests Secretary Raheem Soomro, Investment Secretary Najam Shah, Health Secretary Zahid Abbasi, Excise Secretary Haleem Shaikh, Irrigation Secretary Saeed Mangnijo, Transport Secretary Abbas Detho and KWSB Managing Director Asadullah Khan.