Sindh flood rehabilitation: World Bank says USD650m project achieved ‘highly satisfactory’ progress
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank-funded Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project has significantly exceeded several key performance targets, benefiting more than 7.4 million people across flood-hit areas of Sindh and emerging as one of Pakistan’s largest post-disaster recovery initiatives.
According to the World Bank document, the USD 650 million project has achieved ‘highly satisfactory’ progress toward its development objectives, while overall implementation progress remains rated ‘satisfactory.’
The rehabilitated infrastructure has already benefited 7.42 million people, including approximately 3.56 million women, far surpassing the original target of 5.3 million beneficiaries set for June 2028.
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‘The target has been significantly overachieved as the project was prepared under a framework approach with conservative estimates,’ the Bank stated.
The project was launched to rehabilitate infrastructure damaged by the devastating 2022 floods and strengthen Sindh government’s capacity to respond to climate-related disasters and natural hazards.
The Sindh Irrigation Department (SID) has completed all civil works under the original financing package, including rehabilitation of flood protection infrastructure and construction of flood detention dams. Under the additional financing component, works have reached about 75 percent physical progress.
The Sindh Planning and Development Department has completed rehabilitation of all 141 roads spanning 848.67 kilometres and finished all 512 water supply and drainage schemes envisaged under the parent project.
The document highlighted that around 3.5 million people are now benefiting from improved access to transport infrastructure, more than double the target of 1.5 million. Further, 2.5 million people have gained access to water, sanitation and hygiene services against a target of only 50,000.
Flood protection measures have also yielded substantial results. A total of 460,346 households are now protected through rehabilitated flood protection infrastructure, moving closer to the end-project target of 600,000 households.
On the livelihoods front, the project has already exceeded its target by supporting 139,597 beneficiary households through short-term employment and livelihood assistance programmes, compared to a target of 100,000 households.
Labour-intensive public works generated nearly 3.49 million working days, exceeding the target of three million days. The project completed 1,998 rural development activities, just shy of the final target of 2,000.
The institutional strengthening component also recorded notable progress. Emergency rescue services have expanded to 17 districts, surpassing the project’s target of operationalising services in 16 districts by the end of 2027.
Under the Rescue 1122 initiative, 10 district rescue stations and 16 satellite stations have been completed and handed over, while work on three additional district stations is ongoing.
Citizen satisfaction with project interventions has also reached 80 percent, based on a field-based beneficiary perception survey involving approximately 180 respondents from affected communities.
Financially, the original USD 500 million IDA credit has been fully disbursed, while the additional financing package of USD 150 million approved in April 2025 has achieved a disbursement rate of 79.4 percent.
Despite strong implementation performance, the World Bank maintained the project’s overall risk rating at ‘substantial,’ citing continuing concerns related to governance, institutional capacity, fiduciary management, environmental and social safeguards, and stakeholder engagement.
The project is scheduled to close on June 30, 2028, with additional investments currently underway to consolidate gains and further strengthen Sindh’s resilience against future climate shocks and flood disasters.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026