RAWALPINDI: The World Bank (WB) will provide funds to refurbish the Rawalpindi Municipal Library, the Pirwadhai general bus stand, the slaughterhouse and the fire brigade department of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC).

The cost of these projects is estimated at Rs350 million which will be a part of the ‘World Bank’s Punjab City Governance Improvement Project’.

The amount has been taken as a loan by the Punjab government and the local governments will not have to pay it back as it would be the responsibility of the provincial government.

In 2013, the World Bank provided a loan of $150 million to the provincial government for improving governance in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala.

The Rawalpindi district received $23.9 million as its share through which a three-year-long project was started in 2013. However, after the change of the local government system the fourth installment of the amount was stopped.

After the formation of the new local government, the WB again took an interest in improving the infrastructure under the RMC instead of the district administration.

A WB delegation met Mayor Sardar Naseem and sought details of the projects for the release of the fourth installment.

The mayor presented the projects aimed at improving the buildings of the historical municipal library, Pirwadhai general bus stand, the slaughterhouse and the fire brigade department.

When contacted, Chief Municipal Officer Khalid Goraya told Dawn that the WB funding would help the civic body improve the infrastructure in order to ensure better facilities for the citizens.

He said the slaughterhouse and the fire brigade department were in a bad condition and the RMC had no sufficient funds to improve the buildings and other infrastructure.

Under the WB loan, Rawalpindi’s share was $23.9 million half of which was to be spent on water and sanitation improvement.

However, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) is yet to receive an amount of Rs200 million under the fourth installment.

As a result, a senior official of Wasa said, projects to improve the water supply system in the garrison city could not be launched. He said the agency utilised the third installment of the WB fund in paying electricity bills of the tubewells.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017