Sindh Solar Energy Project rated by WB as ‘moderately unsatisfactory’

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) has rated the outcome of USD 93.1 million Sindh Solar Energy Project ‘moderately unsatisfactory’ because none of the three utility-scale solar plants initiated under the project had been completed by its July 2025 closing date.

The IEG, in its Implementation Completion Report Review of the Sindh Solar Energy Project, noted that the project had originally targeted 400 MW of utility-scale solar generation and 20 MW of distributed solar capacity, but ultimately delivered only 35 MW of solar generation capacity.

The review attributed the failure to complete the utility-scale plants to delays in land allocation, grid approvals, and coordination among provincial and federal authorities, as well as procurement and institutional capacity constraints.

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Three solar park sites were prepared under the project: 120 MW at Deh Halkani and Ban Murad in Karachi, 150 MW at Deh Mitaghar in Karachi and 50 MW at Manjhand in Jamshoro.

However, none of the plants had been fully constructed by project closure. The IEG said private developers had been competitively selected and civil works had started at the two Karachi sites, but implementation subsequently stalled. The Manjhand project failed to progress to bidding because of delays in grid approvals and was eventually dropped.

The review also questioned the project’s results framework, saying the original indicator of “generation capacity of energy constructed or rehabilitated” was not fully aligned with the project’s intended contribution of creating enabling conditions for private investment in solar power.

Even if the alternative concept of “generation capacity enabled” were used, the IEG noted, the capacity initiated across the three plants amounted to only 320 MW, still below the original 400 MW target.

Performance was considerably better under distributed solar. The project installed 35 MW of rooftop solar PV systems on public buildings against a target of 20 MW, exceeding the target by 75 percent. It also supported solarisation of 33 priority healthcare facilities and installed battery storage systems at public facilities affected by load-shedding.

On electricity access, the project provided new or improved electricity access to 1,010,598 people, achieving about 84 percent of the original 1.2 million target.

The project substantially exceeded its gender-related target, reaching 76,241 female-headed households against an appraisal target of 4,000. The IEG attributed the higher-than-expected outcome partly to subsidies being directed towards the most vulnerable households, many of which were female-headed.

The project was approved in June 2018 and became effective in June 2019. Its original closing date was September 2023, but it was extended by around 22 months to July 2025 because of delays linked to limited project management capacity, procurement challenges, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The project cost was initially estimated at USD 105 million, including a USD 100 million IDA credit and USD 5 million in Sindh government counterpart financing. Exchange-rate depreciation reduced available World Bank financing to around USD 93 million, while Sindh provided only USD 2 million of its USD 5 million commitment.

The IEG said the project’s overall efficacy was “modest”, while its efficiency was also rated “modest”. Despite implementation shortcomings, the economic internal rate of return at completion was estimated at 29.8 percent, with an economic net present value of USD 278.3 million.

The review highlighted the need for explicit federal-provincial coordination mechanisms in future sub-national energy projects, particularly where grid approvals and other federal responsibilities are critical to implementation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026