Sindh government, World Bank to launch $2 billion uplift projects for Karachi

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and World Bank high-powered delegation have, in principle, agreed to start $2 billion projects to make Karachi one of the most developed and beautiful cities of the world. The projects which the two sides discussed and agreed to start include: Karachi Urban Mobility Project (KUMP) costing $ 400 million, Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) costing $ 1.6 billion and Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLCK) of $ 230 million.
The World Bank 16-member team was led by the country director Patchamuthu Illangovan and comprised Senior Director Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez, Practice Manager David Seth Warren, Operation Manager Melinda Good, Program Leader Lixin Gu, Transport Specialist Said Dahdah, Sr Urban Economist Yoonhee Kim, Sr Water Management Specialist Andreas Rohde and others. The chief minister was aided by Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Excise Minister Mukesh Chawla, Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah, Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, concerned provincial secretaries, MD KWSB and others.
The KUMP project is aimed at improving urban mobility, especially for women accessibility and road safety. Under this project BRT Yellow Line corridor, including infrastructure rehabilitation and BRTS system to constructed.
The World Bank experts would also undertake capacity building of Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) to manage all the BRT system. The WB would finance rehabilitation of roads and footpaths and develop other relevant infrastructure.
The chief minister discussed this project with the WB team and said Karachi is the most beautiful city but it would shine when its transport system would be established. "We are working on KCR project but even then urban transport system of BRT is needed," he said.
The WB country director agreed to take up the project and urged the transport department to furnish all relevant documents, PC-1 and layout plan so that it could be sent to their board for final. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that he wanted to establish KWSB as the most efficient, effective and service delivery institution. He said the goal needs restructuring and rehabilitation of the KWSB's water supply and drainage system wholly. For this, he sought support of the World Bank.
On the request of Sindh government, World Bank studied the problems of water and envisaged a plan under the name of KWSSIP to provide safe and reliable water and sewerage services and encourage private sector investments on water supply and waste water treatment.
The WB experts said reforms at KWSB were required in three sectors. First one is to raise operational capacity for safe, sustainable and equitable water service delivery to all customers.
The second is to restore KWSB's financial stability and third one is the governance and institutional reforms. Sindh government and the WB team agreed to complete the required legal formalities within a month. Then, it will be referred to the World Bank's board for approval. Sindh CM formed a committee under chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, MD Water Board Asadullah Khan and PD K-IV Asad Zamin to meet all the requirement of the World Bank and submit them PC-1 and other documents.
The Chief Minister said that he wanted to enhance urban management and service delivery of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and all DMCs of the city through under Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLCK) project.
The WB's country director Illangovan said that his team had already worked on the project and prepared a design feature for performance based block grant. The plan calls for incentivising institutional performance and improvement of KMC and DMCs. The performance-based block grants to be used for capital investment program for KMC and DMCs. Local government department will also be provided technical support.
Institutional reforms will be introduced in KMC and in all six DMCs. Property Tax survey will be conducted and all the payments, including salaries, receipts of local taxes, property tax and payment of bills, etc, will be made electronically. Present manual system will be replaced with digital/ electronic system.
The project was approved, in principal. It will be referred to the World Bank board for final approval. The chief minister and the WB delegation set deadlines for completion of documentation for all the three projects: CLCK by early April; KWSSIP and KUMP by end of March.