ISLAMABAD: The World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will co-finance a project to raise the Karachi Water Supply Board’s operational capacity to deliver safe and reliable water service on a sustainable and predictable basis to all its customers in the provincial capital.

The Beijing-based AIIB has approved the concept decision on the Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement project for which the executive board will approve $160 million loan.

The World Bank will be the lead financer with a financing of $160 million, while the Sindh government will contribute $80 million for the project.

The $400 million project will help restore KWSB’s operations to financial stability and establish an enabling environment for future private sector investments in water supply and waste water treatment.

According to the project report released by AIIB, Karachi city is characterised by informal settlements and there is a proliferation of informal service providers.

The city is continuously urbanising at the expense of green and open spaces but the city’s infrastructure and basic municipal services, including water and sanitation are unable to keep up with the rapid growth of the city.

An important component of the project will be to increase the capacity of the sewage system by constructing 180 million gallons per day wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure in the Malir river basin as part of Greater Karachi Sewerage project.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2018