KARACHI:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and World Bank delegation led by its Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan discussed $1.9 billion development projects.
The meeting was held here at CM House which was attended by Minister Local Government Nasir Shah, Minister Labour Saeed Ghani, advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Chairperson P and D Naheed Shah, MD Karchi Water and Sewerage Board Asadullah Khan and other officers.
The World Bank delegation members were Operation Manager Ms Melinda Good, Program leader Lixin Gu and senior operation officer Amena Raja. Amongst these projects, Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLICK) is a Rs33.6billion ($240 million) WB-assisted project in which Sindh government is committed to share $10 million.
The project is aimed at improving the performance of Karachi local councils and agencies in urban management, financing and service delivery programs and improving the business environment for private sector development in the city.
The proposed project will support four major components to be executed under the supervision of local government, excise and taxation and Sindh investment departments. Under the project local councils would be given performance-based grants. Urban property tax system to be improved, improvement to be brought in city competitiveness and business and technical assistance would be given to Sindh Solid Waste Management.
The chief minister told the WB delegation that the project has been cleared in CDWP and by ECNEC. Now, it can be started with the approval of the World Bank. The World Bank director said that he would issue their clearance letter within a month.
Another project, Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) Phase-I is a Rs14.72 billion project in which World Bank would give 40 percent or $42.084 million assistance while AIIB would also give 40 percent or $42.084 million soft loan and the provincial government would bear Rs2.945 billion or 20 percent of the total cost. The project would be completed in five year.
Chairperson P and D Naheed Shah told the meeting that the project has been approved by ECNEC on August 29, 2019. The Chief Minister discussed Sindh Human Capital Investment project with the World Bank country chief.
The chief minister said that just to improve education standards and attain the maximum level of targets he has proposed some reforms. They include transportation facility to girls students, consolidation and upgradation of Girls primary schools to elementary schools, provision of missing facilities in girl schools, provision of missing facilities in visualized girls model schools, lady teachers capacity building and bringing back out of school children.
The World Bank Country director assured the chief minister of his financial support and urged him to submit working paper of the project.
Sindh Rural Economy: The meeting also discussed Sindh Agricultural Growth project of $67 m, Sindh Integrated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement $283 million, water sector improvement project of $283 million, Sindh Barrage Improvement Project of $324 million and Sindh Resilience Project of $11 million. These projects were in progress and the chief minister urged the World Bank to reallocate Flood Shelter funds for rehabilitation of flood-affected people.
The chief minister also discussed Yellow Line project and the World Bank country chief told the chief minister to appoint project director of the project so that it could be taken up.