THE ‘Casa-1000’ electricity transmission project for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan requires community-related interventions so that communities are both informed and involved in the project from the outset.

Such interventions lead to strong local support for infrastructure investments.

The World Bank’s engagement in a range of community-related interventions under various projects in Pakistan has demonstrated the benefits of social support that can provide safe access and a better operating environment for infrastructure projects, while contributing to local development.

The bank has designed a Community Support Programme (CSP) as the third component of the Casa-1000 project — to be implemented by all the four participating countries. The Afghanistan CSP has already been approved by the World Bank, while those for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan will be prepared at a later stage.

The community support programme will help gain local support and improve the operating environment for the Casa-1000 project through local development assistance and benefit-sharing arrangements

The four CSPs are linked in their common approach to share benefits with the local communities and gain their trust to ensure that the transmission line is seen as beneficial to them.

In the case of Pakistan, the CSP will be financed through a Casa Trust Fund that is ‘operational’ but not funded yet. If this trust fund is not able to finance the project, credit from the International Development Association will be sought.

The project includes social mobilisation and community infrastructure and services with energy security as sub-components.

In Pakistan, the transmission line will pass through approximately 70km of territory across the Khyber Agency in Fata and the frontier region, before connecting to a grid station in the vicinity of Peshawar.

The Casa-1000 electricity transmission and trade project has designed mechanisms and measures to manage the overall security risk for the line construction and operation in the longer term.

In addition, the CSP will help gain the local community’s support and improve the operating environment for the project through local development assistance and benefit-sharing arrangements.

A background study was conducted under the Casa-1000 to assess the situation of local communities along the route of the transmission line. The study developed a socioeconomic profile of the population along the corridor, disseminated basic project information, carried out consultations with the communities over their development challenges and priorities, and assessed local expectations from the project.

The study identified the total population in the transmission line route to be around 0.114m people, comprising roughly 8,650 households. The estimated population in the corridor of impact is approximately 68,000, which translates into roughly 60pc of the population of the transmission route.

The study conducted an assessment of 13 of the 27 villages falling within the entire route of the transmission line.

The household survey conducted for this study revealed a low literacy rate (37pc overall), with most of this (93pc) classified as functional literacy. There was a wide gender gap in literacy, with male literacy at 59pc and female at 14pc.

Using the community’s own wealth ranking criteria, the survey estimated that 62pc of the sample population falls within the low income (49pc) and very poor (13pc) categories. Income sources are diversified with the main ones being agriculture (16pc of households), business and self-employment (27pc), public sector employment (11pc), private sector employment (11pc) and other (12pc). About 2pc of households had no sources of income.

The provision and availability of electricity was identified as one of the major issues by residents in the survey. All villages are currently connected to the national grid and officially declared ‘electrified or connected’.

However, the term ‘connected village’ does not necessarily mean that all households are served with the service or benefit from electricity on a continuous basis.

The provision of safe drinking water and sanitation were other issues raised by the households. The current average in-house availability of safe drinking water in the corridor of the impact is 57pc.

During the background study, both men and women stressed access to safe drinking water as a major priority. Only 24pc of the households reported in-house pour flush latrine. Alternatively, women and children use pit latrines and men use the open fields.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, January 12th, 2015

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