ISLAMABAD The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Pakistan Friday signed an agreement to invest $300 million in improvement of water and sanitation services in secondary cities of the Sindh province.
The Agreement for the `Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program (SCIP)` was signed by Rune Stroem, ADB`s Country Director for Pakistan and Farrakh Qayyum, Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division.
`The investment will help the provincial government of Sindh cope with mounting challenges in providing basic urban services to an estimated four million residents of Sindh secondary cities over the next several years,` Stroem told PPI.
`ADB support to secondary cities will improve the quality of life of urban citizens and help these urban centers unleash their full economic potential. We believe that revitalizing Sindh`s small and medium-size towns is important to foster balanced urban and rural development,` he added.
The first tranche of $38 million (2009-2012) of ADBs multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) for the Sindh Cities Improvement Investment Program will focus on institutional change and priority infrastructure for the northern Sindh cities of Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Shikarpur and Larkana.
The MFF is ADB`s first comprehensive support for Sindh`s secondary cities and demonstrates a strategic, long-term commitment to urban development of the province.
As Pakistan`s second most populous province, Sindh is faced with rising population growth, a severe deficit of basic urban infrastructure and services, and growing urban poverty. The core challenge that Sindh cities face is inadequate basic urban services delivery in water supply, wastewater and solid waste management. Limited access to and poor quality of water supply, together with poor sanitation, is causing spread of diseases and chronic illness such as diarrhea, especially among children.
`The Program aims at ensuring quality, continuity, reliability and coverage of basic urban services through improved utility management coupled with carefully targeted infrastructure investments, including funding for systems operations and maintenance,` said Kathie M. Julian, Principal Urban Development Specialist of ADB.
The Program introduces local government-organized urban services corporations, staffed by professional managers and skilled technicians and tasked to deliver water supply, wastewater and solid waste management services to participating urban areas.
This approach is innovative as it brings together key elements necessary to improve service delivery - clear roles and responsibilities, skilled people, including private sector expertise, performance incentives, and increased accountability to consumers.
An estimated 570,000 households in participating cities will directly benefit from the investment program. The MFF will finance physical investment in water supply, wastewater, and solid waste management infrastructure, including piped water supply networks targeting 24/7 supply of potable water, covered drains, sewage treatment, waste collection vehicles and sanitary landfills.
The Program will also support Sindh to establish a provincial focal point for championing urban sector management reforms.