ISLAMABAD: In a setback to Pakistan’s development financing pipeline, the World Bank has dropped four proposed projects with a combined commitment of around USD 1.128 billion, according to the Bank’s official documents.
The shelved projects include the USD 400 million Sindh Transformational Accelerated Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Services Project, USD 300 million Punjab Agri-Food Modernisation and Competitiveness Program, USD 155 million Integrated Flood Resilience and Adaptation Project, and a USD 273 million nutrition and child stunting reduction initiative in Punjab.
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The World Bank documents show the projects were marked as “dropped,” with some failing to advance beyond the concept review stage despite being under preparation.
When contacted, a World Bank spokesperson said, “These projects are at different stages of preparation and discussions with the government are going on about the way forward.”
The STAR-WASH-1 Project Development objective was to increase access to safely managed water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services in selected rural areas of the Sindh Province. The Sindh Transformational Accelerated Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Services Project was supposed to use the Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA). Its total estimated envelope was USD 2.55 billion, of which USD 1.4 billion was to be financed through IDA/IBRD funds and USD 900 million from counterpart funding and co-financing from other development partners. The implementation timeframe was from FY26 to FY35, coinciding with the CPF’s timeframe.
The Improving Dietary Diversity and Quality to Address Child Stunting: A Woman and Small Farmer-Centered Community-based Pilot in Punjab was supposed to improve household dietary diversity and quality in selected villages in rural Punjab, with a focus on households with children under two years of age, newly married women, and pregnant and lactating women. An integrated cross-sectoral “convergence” approach has been developed by the World Bank to address high child stunting levels in Pakistan, which affect about 40 percent of children under the age of five. This approach geographically co-locates interventions in safely managed water and sanitation, primary health care, nutrition, early childhood development, and social protection to achieve the multi-sectoral outcome of child stunting reduction. In rural Punjab, this convergence approach is being rolled out in selected tehsils from among sixteen that are part of the Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRSWSSP).
Integrated Flood Resilience and Adaptation Project aimed at improving livelihoods and essential services and enhancing flood risk protection in selected communities affected by the 2022 floods.
Punjab Agri-Food Modernisation and Competitiveness Program aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, resilience, and revenues of smallholder farmers in targeted value chains in Punjab. The overarching ambition of the Program was to sustainably boost agricultural growth and create more and better jobs in Punjab’s agri-food sector. This means enhancing the competitive position of Punjab’s agri-food production in line with global and domestic market demand and increased private investments in agribusiness. The Programme’s medium-term ambition was to promote stronger inclusion of smallholder farmers into agri-food value chains, while enhancing the climate resilience of their farming systems and ensuring a more sustainable management of natural resources, with a focus on soil health and surface- and groundwater.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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