World Bank assures Sindh of releasing stuck-up fund soon

KARACHI: The World Bank on Friday assured Sindh government to soon release the outstanding funds to help in timely completion of development projects in the province.

World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine, talking to the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, said there are currently 12 projects worth $1.6 billion that are active in the province in addition to six projects with the same financing commitment in the pipeline.

Benhassine said the funds that are stuck would be cleared soon to improve the pace of development. The meeting discussed 18 projects of $3.25 billion.

Chief Minister Shah said the government wants to work in human capital, poverty reduction, revenue mobilisation and economic reforms with the financial assistance of the World Bank.

Shah said five projects are scheduled to close during the currently fiscal year. They include Sindh agriculture growth project of $86 million, irrigation agriculture productivity enhancement project of $76 million, public sector management reform of $50 million, enhanced response to reduce stunting of $187 million and Karachi neighborhood improvement program that is estimated to cost $86 million.

The provincial chief minister said the World Bank committed to release $461 million against which $267.7 million has so far been released and the remaining $193.3 million are yet to be released.

“These projects will be completed by the end of this year and therefore they should be given priority in terms of financial support,” he said in a statement.

The chief minister said that he had notified a working group on the development city-wide resettlement and rehabilitation framework by February 4 to work with the social development team of the World Bank.

The projects to be launched in partnership with the World Bank include Sindh water and agricultural transformation and early warning enhancement through class room transformation.

The chief minister urged the country director of the World Bank to expedite their formalities so that projects could be started from the next fiscal year.

Mohammad Waseem, chairman of planning and development said the provincial resilience project has been revised to include modified scope of work which needs to be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.

The meeting was informed that anti-encroachment activities around the main drain are in progress.