RAWALPINDI The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday approved a loan of $300 million for Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Programme, which will improve water and sanitation infrastructure in secondary cities of the province.

The ADB loan will support comprehensive urban planning, institutional reforms, including introduction of professionally-managed urban services providers, and complementary infrastructure investments in water supply, wastewater, and solid waste management (SWM) beginning in 2008, with phased investment over ten years.

The long-term programme will also target select growth centers, clustered together to benefit from economies of scale and their strategic location along the National Trade Corridor.

The Investment Programme will adopt a carefully phased approach; financing priority investments where they are more likely to succeed and support improved cost recovery, with learning and further investment subsequently rolled-out to new town clusters when ready.

This long-term partnership with the Sindh government will provide an opportunity for more substantive engagement on policy, regulatory, management and financial aspects of urban service delivery, a prerequisite for sustainable infrastructure services.

The first tranche of 38 million dollars for the period 2009-2012, will target institutional change and priority infrastructure projects in the northern Sindh cities of Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Shikarpur and Larkana. 

The loan in the form of a multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) will support urban sector reforms and capacity development, and priority investment in water supply, waste-water, and solid waste management infrastructure for the secondary cities. 

Sindh is the second most populous province of Pakistan.  While about half the population lives in the major cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, six million people live in more than 20 secondary cities, where deficient basic urban services stifle economic growth and contribute to poverty.