Pakistan gets $1 bln World Bank funding

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

A boy is silhouetted while arranging bottles of drinking water for sale in Karachi. Pakistan is to improve its infrastructure with a large funding provided by the World Bank. REUTERS photo

The World Bank said on March 20 that it would fund two projects totaling $1.09 billion, in energy and irrigation, aimed at supporting Pakistan’s growth agenda for reducing poverty.

The World Bank’s executive board approved the projects, the development lender said in a statement.
The $840 million Tarbela IV Extension Hydropower Project will add power generation capacity of 1,410 megawatts, contributing a crucial source of electricity for the economic growth and development of Pakistan, the World Bank said.

Only 15 percent of Pakistan’s vast hydropower potential has been developed, the Bank noted.
The Tarbela IV Extension Hydropower Project will use the existing dam, tunnel, roads and transmission line for generating additional electricity in summer months when demand for electricity and river flows are high, it added.

“The beauty of this project is that it will help Pakistan reduce the gap between supply and demand of electricity by maximizing the benefits of existing infrastructure of Tarbela Dam without requiring any land acquisition or relocation of population,” Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank country director for Pakistan, said.

“The direct beneficiaries will be millions of energy users, including industry, households and farmers who would get more electricity at a lower cost and suffer fewer blackouts.”

The $250 million Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement Program Project is aimed at getting maximum productivity out of irrigation water by weaning farmers away from the traditional and “wasteful” flood irrigation, the Bank said.