World Bank terms progress of $188m PHCSP ‘moderately satisfactory’

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) has rated the implementation progress of the “Pakistan Hydromet and Climate Services Project (PHCSP)”, of around $188 million as moderately satisfactory.

The project was approved in May, 2018 with the development objective to strengthen Pakistan’s public sector delivery of reliable and timely hydro-meteorological and disaster risk management services. The closing date of the project is 31 December 2024.

It has three main components:

1. First component, Hydro-meteorological and Climate Services. This component will include four sub-components. (i) Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building;

(ii) Modernisation of the Observation Infrastructure, Data Management, and Forecasting Systems;

(iii) Enhancing Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Service Delivery and Building Partnerships with the Private Sector; and

(iv) Project Management, Systems Integration, and Monitoring and Implementation Support of PMD;

2. Second component, Disaster Risk Management will consist of three subcomponents.

(i) Legal Policy and Institutional Strengthening;

(ii) Infrastructure for Resilience; and

(iii) Project Management, Monitoring, and Implementation Support of NDMA;

3. Third component, Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) will support preparedness for and rapid response to climate and natural disasters, emergency, and/ or catastrophic event as needed.

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Official documents revealed that the project is making satisfactory progress in implementation and has achieved its Project Development Objective (PDO), with all three PDO indicators surpassing their target values.

Documents noted that achievements include the planting and maintenance of over 28,000 hectares of land through sustainable forest management plans; the creation of over 2,500 jobs for low income and daily wage workers through ecosystem restoration initiatives; and employment opportunities for women (five percent) in afforestation activities. Additionally, the project has distributed $150 million in cash transfers to over 1.4 million flood-affected households through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

The project activities have also reported a high beneficiary satisfaction rate of 70 percent.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024