Sindh CM, World Bank team discuss $3.4 billion WB-assisted projects
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the World Bank high-powered team led by its Country Director Najy Binhassine reviewed the overall progress of World Bank-assisted 14 projects of $3.4 billion and agreed to remove the bottlenecks that exist and speed up the slow pace of projects for their timely completion.
The review meeting was held at the CM House on Wednesday. It was attended by provincial ministers Sharjeel Memon, Dr Azra Fazal, Nasir Shah, Saeed Ghani, Sardar Shah, Jam Khan Shoro, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, P&D Chairman Najam Shah, provincial secretaries and project director of the World Bank-assisted projects.
The World Bank team comprised Kamran Akbar, Murtaza Noorani, Omar Riaz, Waleed Anwar, Uzma Sadaf and others.
Karachi Mobility Project KMP: The KMP aims to enhance mobility, accessibility, and safety along selected corridors in the city. It comprises the construction of two bridges (Jam Sadiq Bridges) for Yellow Line BRT corridors, the development and operation of the BRT Yellow
Line System, and capacity building and technical assistance for the project. Progress regarding the Jam Sadiq bridges, it was reported in the meeting that the concept design was finalized on August 6, mobilization has been completed, the test pile was cast on July 7, and load tests are scheduled to be conducted on August 12.
As far as the development and operationalisation of a BRT system for Yellow Line, the meeting was told that Financial bids opened in April 2024. The WB issued the required consent and now Contract Singing is expected to be held next week.
CLICK: The Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLICK) project has been launched to improve urban management, service delivery and the business environment in the city and provide an immediate and effective response to an eligible crisis or emergency.
The meeting was told that the Geographic Information System (GIS) based Management Information System (MIS) MIS is being developed for property tax survey. It was pointed out that the Technical Evaluation has been shared with the WB. The firm is planned to be on board by August 30, 2024.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement
Project (KWSSIP): The KWSSIP is aimed at improving access to safe water services in Karachi and increasing KWSB’s financial and operational performance.
The World Bank team was informed that most major procurements for the project have been tendered. Currently, all activities are on track to be delivered by project closing. Promising bids were received for Meters procurement and were under Evaluation. In case of successful bids, the contract would be signed in September, 2024. The chief minister said that the World Bank has released Rs 238 million for K-IV Augmentation works and the provincial government was in the process of releasing its share. He added that the work on K-IV augmentation would be started shortly.
Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP): The SSEP project is designed to increase solar power generation and access to electricity in the province. Under the project, solar parks would be established apart from the solarisation of public buildings, and the Solar Home System (SHS) to be distributed. The meeting was told that the contract has been awarded for solar park but NTDC has yet to finalise the approval for the grid interconnection study required for NEPRA’s approval.