RAWALPINDI: After waiting for one year, the garrison city of Rawalpindi has received Rs390 million from the World Bank loan provided to the Punjab government for improving governance in the major cities of the province.

The Punjab government was given $150 million loan by the World Bank for improving vital services in five big cities - Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi.

However, the provincial government provided the money to these cities as grant-in-aid meaning the loan would be returned to the World Bank by the provincial government and the city district governments will not have to repay it.

For the next three years, Rawalpindi has been allocated $23.9 million and out of this amount the first installment of Rs390 million has been given to it now. Half of the money would be spent on improving the water supply and sewerage systems and the rest on upgrading the existing roads.

In January 2013, the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) rearranged its urban limits to get the maximum amount which is provided on the basis of population.

Under the process, the CDGR declared 73 union councils as urban. Earlier the number of the union councils was 46.

A CDGR official told Dawn that the urban wing of the Punjab Planning and Development Department had been formed to release the funds for the World Bank-aided projects through the respective district coordination officers.

He said Rs195 million had been provided to Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) while Rs195 million would be spent on road and infrastructure repair and maintenance work by the CDGR.

He said no new projects would be launched through the amount as for that the government would provide separate funds.

The official said the second installment of $4.8 million would be given in 2015, $6.7 million in 2016 and $8.1 million in 2016.

“The amount given to the CDGR will be spent on renovating the government buildings which were in bad shape and in this regard a survey was underway,” he said.

When contacted, Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat said they would launch work on improving the infrastructure.

“The major chunk of Rs195 million will be spent on paying electricity bills of tubewells and laying new water supply lines,” he said.

He added that the agency was facing a deficit of Rs540 million in the budget due to increased tariff of electricity.

He said there was no increase in water charges for the last many years but the electricity and fuel tariff had increased manifold, leading to the deficit.