ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has established a ‘Centre of Excellence’ at the University of Punjab in Lahore to address the issue of management of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation.

The centre of excellence will play an important role in addressing the issues by supporting local capacity building and by facilitating knowledge sharing within countries and across the region.

The centre is one of the three centres established by the World Bank in South Asia. The other two centres have been established in Bangladesh and India. Set up with funds provided by AusAID, these centres are as part of the Management of Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (MLARR) programme in the region. A fourth such centre is being developed at a university in Nepal.

The World Bank says that a significant bottleneck for infrastructure development in South Asia is the delay in land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced communities.

There is a significant dearth of trained professionals able to support governments and infrastructure companies in this area.

The MLARR programme has been supporting these institutions through course development and training with the aim of fostering more sustainable infrastructure delivery and socioeconomic growth across the region.