Flood project: Govt seeks $31m financing boost from World Bank

Business Recorder

3 days ago

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has requested the World Bank for increasing the financing envelope by $31 million as well as restructuring of Integrated Flood Resilience and Adaptation Project.
The request was made to better align the project with current implementation capacity, performance of the component and operational their readiness, and a stronger focus on resilience. Official sources revealed that the request was based on series of discussions from between senior management of the World Bank, government of Pakistan and government of Balochistan.
The project development objective (PDO) is to improve livelihoods and essential services and enhance flood risk protection in selected communities affected by the 2022 floods.
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The proposed additional financing of $31 million and reallocation of US$54 million from other components will support activities under Component 3 of the Parent Project which will increase impact and expand the provision of multi-hazard resilient housing units and livelihoods in Balochistan. The AF will facilitate increasing funding for the housing subsidy grant to 102,000 beneficiaries from the current 35,100.
The Additional Financing (AF) aims to scale up housing reconstruction activities in Balochistan Province, covering additional eligible beneficiaries whose homes were affected by the 2022 floods. The affected households were initially identified through the damage assessment conducted by the Government of Balochistan (GoB) and subsequently by the implementing partners of the Project.
The AF also includes a Level 2 Restructuring, which reduces the scope of activities under Components 1 and 4 of the Project. It also modifies the Results Framework (RF) to update indicators and targets, including the addition of a relevant World Bank Group Corporate Scorecard FY24–30 indicator.
The restructuring does not include any new types of activities, and the Project Development Objective (PDO) remains unchanged. With this AF, the total Project commitment will increase to US$244 million. The need for AF was identified during the implementation of IFRAP. Balochistan was among the provinces most severely affected by the 2022 floods. The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment estimated damage to the housing sector in Balochistan at over $400 million. To address this challenge, the Parent Project was initiated with $75 million equivalent IDA credit for housing reconstruction. However, a significant financing gap remains to fully rehabilitate the damaged housing units in the province.
The revised project description is as follows: 12. Component 1 – Community Infrastructure Rehabilitation. This component will finance the rehabilitation of priority community infrastructure damaged by floods, including irrigation and flood protection infrastructure, roads and bridges located in calamity-declared districts of Balochistan. The guiding principle is to build back better with improved infrastructure based on climate risks, improved engineering design standards, and improved construction and maintenance to enhance resilience. The component will also include the technical assistance needed for the design and supervision of the works and for the development of operation and maintenance of the infrastructure. 13. Component 2: Strengthening Hydromet and Climate Services. This component will enhance the PMD capacity to generate and use hydrometeorological information for decision-making, particularly by expanding coverage in the western region, benefiting Balochistan as well as other parts of the country. While financing remains unchanged, cost escalations have reduced the number of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) from 300 to 110. To ensure sustainability and impact, deployment will prioritize high-risk areas such as flash flood-prone regions in South Punjab and Sindh, aligning with PMD's operational capacity. 14. Component 3: Resilient Housing Reconstruction and Restoration. This component will finance: (i) resilient housing reconstruction grants to beneficiaries for the reconstruction of core housing units damaged by floods; and (ii) institutional strengthening and technical assistance for the reconstruction. It will also support the objective of improved livelihoods generation in the construction sector and allied subsectors. 15. Component 4: Project Management, Technical Assistance, and Institutional Strengthening. This component will support: (i) project management for the FPMU and the provincial PIUs; (ii) technical assistance for M&E, Project Supervision and Implementation Assistance (PSIA), preparation of SoP2, and preparation of community flood resilience plans; and (iii) institutional strengthening through capacity building and drafting a Water Act. 16. Component 5: Contingent Emergency Response. This component facilitates the provision of immediate response to an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, as needed. Following an adverse natural event that causes a major disaster or emergency, the GoP may request the Bank to reallocate project funds to support response and reconstruction. Resources will be allocated to this component as needed during implementation. 17. Results Framework. There are no changes to the PDO. The RF has been updated in line with the revised project design. The indicator 'people with enhanced protection to flood risk' is revised to align with the corporate scorecard indicator 'people with enhanced resilience to climate risks', including its sub-indicators reporting on youth and women.
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