HYDERABAD, March 19: The Centre for Environment and Development (CEAD) has expressed concern over the proposed closure of Asian Development Bank-backed Sindh Rural Development Project (SRDP), and said that it is unfortunate that the project is being terminated without implementation.

Qalandar Shah, Nasir Ali Panhwar and other office-bearers of the CEAD, an NGO, said in a statement said the project had been planned to be implemented in four districts—Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, and Sanghar.

They said that while the project designer of SRDP at the ADB had received an award for designing the best project but it could not be implemented and instead of improving the governance the project itself became the victim of bad governance.

It was aimed at improving governance, capacity building, improving rural livelihood, establishing and upgrading community infrastructure and project management support, they said.

The project was to be implemented at district level, promoting partnership between government, non-governmental and community-based organisations. The expected beneficiaries included 96,000 households in 3,200 village groups, the CEAD leaders said.

The objective of the project, they said, was to improve the social status and economic well-being of the poorest groups in the project area with a focus on haris (peasants) and agricultural labourers, marginal owners-cum-tenants, small village-based artisans, particularly women as the most disadvantaged among the target groups.

The CEAD leaders urged the provincial government in waiting that instead of terminating the project it should be revitalised with fast-track approach. This could be possible by appointing best officers and engaging civil society with clear definition of their roles and coordination between agencies concerned and putting appropriate arrangements in place.