Flood rehabilitation housing project: Aseefa, World Bank MD distribute ownership rights certificates to women homeowners
HYDERABAD: Anna Bejerde, Managing Director of the World Bank, accompanied by First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, and World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine, visited the flood rehabilitation housing project in village Nazar Muhammad Laghari, Shaheed Benazirabad district.
This project, under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affected (SPHF) programme, aims at rebuilding homes destroyed by the 2022 devastating floods.
During the visit, First Lady Aseefa Bhutto and MD Anna Bejerde distributed ownership rights certificates to women homeowners and met with female members of the Village Reconstruction Committee (VRC), who showcased their handicraft work. The committee briefed that 32 homes were destroyed in the village, all of which have now been rebuilt.
Anna Bejerde reaffirmed the World Bank's commitment to supporting the Sindh government in flood recovery efforts, praising the resilience of the local people and the leadership's dedication. She emphasised that sustainable community-level rehabilitation is achievable despite climate change challenges.
First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari highlighted that granting women ownership rights under the SPHF project is a historic socio-economic empowerment initiative by the Sindh government, significantly benefiting rural women.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah noted that over 2.4 million homes were destroyed in the 2022 floods. The WB initially provided $500 million to kick-start the recovery, later increasing funding by $450 million over two years. This support has helped construct 778,000 homes and allocated $54.92 million for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) benefiting 66,691 families in 1,000 villages.
SPHF CEO Khalid Mahmood Sheikh briefed that in Shaheed Benazirabad alone, 104,822 homes were destroyed; about 60,000 are under construction while nearly 40,000 are completed. Across Sindh, over 111,000 disabled persons are receiving accessible homes, and more than 800,000 women have opened bank accounts for the first time, promoting financial inclusion.
The programme has provided safe shelter to over 6 million people and created more than one million new jobs.
This visit underscores the ongoing collaboration between the WB and Sindh government to restore livelihoods and empower vulnerable communities affected by climate-induced disasters.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
10 hours ago
- Business Recorder
DDT scheme has small positive impact on textile exports: World Bank
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Duty Drawback of Taxes (DDT) scheme had a small positive impact on aggregate textile exports, which masks substantial reallocation across products and induced an increase in exports of products eligible for the highest rebate rates at the expense of non-eligible, and of lower-rebate rate products, says the World Bank. The bank in its 'Industrial Policy under Constraints: Evidence from Pakistan's Export Subsidy Schemes' report, stated that the scheme induced an increase in strategic misreporting at the border for non-eligible products. For each $1 spent on the DDT schemes, only $1.1 were generated as additional exports, the bank added. Business & investment: Shift to higher tariffs restricts exports growth for Pakistan: WB The scheme is considered a key export promotion policy adopted by the Pakistani government for the textile sector, which accounts for 55 percent of total exports. Prior to 2010, the subsidy scheme was implemented intermittently, with extremely limited budget allocations and frequent interruptions in disbursements. At the end of 2014, the government launched a trade policy aimed at boosting textile exports, which involved a substantial increase in the budget allocated to the scheme. Over the period 2017-2020, funds allocated to the scheme reached about one percent of the total federal budget. The scheme targeted specific products and adopted heterogeneous rebate rates across eligible products, the bank added. Analysis of exporters' transactions data reveals that the effects are partially explained by a shift in exporters composition, as entrants are less likely to be specialised in low-rate products while firms that exit the export market are those more likely to be specialised in lower-rate and non-eligible products. The report said that strategic behavior, however, had a small overall impact on recorded exports, and does not explain the larger reallocation. Results have broad implications and suggest that interventions targeted at specific products can lead to unintended reallocations, particularly if firms face capacity or financial constraints. The concentration of the export base into fewer products that increases the vulnerability of exports to product-specific shocks, should be weighed against the small aggregate effect of the scheme when evaluating the overall impact of this intervention, it added. The study combines an event-study approach to exclude the presence of pre-trends with a synthetic control method to estimate the effects of the DDT scheme on Pakistani textile exports. Using product-level data, we show that products in different eligible categories were on similar trajectories before the introduction of the scheme. Synthetic control estimates show that while the DDT scheme had only a small positive overall impact on textile exports, it induced re-allocation across products within the textile sector. More specifically, the policies induced an increase in exports of products eligible for the highest rebate rates at the expense of non-eligible or lower-rate products. The bank stated that targeting export subsidies towards specific products might impact negatively other products, especially in a context where firms face capacity constraints. This could lead to an inefficient allocation of resources, as firms may divert attention and resources from non-subsidised to subsidised products, potentially harming overall export performance. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring the effects of such interventions. A careful assessment of the capacity constraints faced by firms, along with an assessment of the features of the products to target, is crucial in the design of export subsidy schemes to ensure balanced and sustainable growth in the export sector. The report stated that Pakistan has long been implementing measures to support exports. Traditionally, export promotion schemes were limited to five so-called 'zero-rated sectors': textiles, sports goods, surgical goods, leather and carpets. Over the last decade, however, there has been a growing consensus on the need for a level playing field, advocating for wider accessibility of these schemes. Hence, two main modalities have emerged. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business Recorder
Govt urges World Bank to restructure KWSSIP
ISLAMABAD: The government has requested the World Bank for restructuring of Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) to complete activities that suffered from the implementation delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 floods and delays in procurement of critical activities. Official documents revealed that this restructuring for KWSSIP involves: (i) change in client name, (ii) closing date extension and subsequent change in disbursement and implementation schedule, (iii) reallocation between expenditure categories, and (iv) change in results framework. The $40 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan for KWSSIP was approved on June 27, 2019. The project is co-financed with a loan of $40 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve access to safe water services in Karachi and to increase the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB)'s financial and operational performance. World Bank approves $240m for Karachi's water & sanitation project The current project closing date is June 30, 2025. The project comprises three components: Component 1—Operational and Enabling Environment Reform; Component 2—Infrastructure Investments; and Component 3—Project Management and Studies. This is the first restructuring of the project. The implementation arrangements of the projects will remain the same. Government has requested a twelve-month project closing date extension for both the World Bank and the AIIB's loans until June 30, 2026. This extension is required to complete activities that suffered from the implementation delay due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2022 floods and delays in procurement of critical activities (bulk meters and customer meters). Activities include the establishment of pilot District Metering Areas (DMAs), works to reduce energy consumption, development of an asset management program, completion of the water and sewerage masterplan and commissioning of the chlorination dosing stations will be completed within the 12 months closing date extension and hence, achieving the PDOs. Due to higher-than-expected costs in component 1 for building customer service centers and of the Institutional Reform Studies, some funding is reallocated from components 2 and 3 to component 1. Relative to the original investment plan at preparation, this will result in a reduced scope of energy efficiency investments in component 2 and of studies conducted in component 3. It is proposed to change the target date of all unachieved indicators to match the closing date extension as all indicators are expected to be achieved by then. Progress toward achieving the PDO and Implementation Progress are rated Moderately Satisfactory as of the last Implementation Status and Results Report (ISR) in November 2024. The performance ratings for components, financial management, project management, procurement, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and safeguards are also moderately satisfactory. As of May 6, 2025, disbursement from the IBRD allocation reached $30.62 million out of the allocated budget of $40 million (76.55 per cent) in addition to $33.248mn (83.12 per cent) from the AIIB co-financing loan. More than 90 percent of the project proceeds are committed in signed contracts and the remaining balance are planned to be fully committed by June 30, 2025, through variation orders to some ongoing works contracts and awarding of the remaining studies envisioned under the project such as the updating of the Geographical Information System (GIS) and the development of asset management system. Implementation progress, financial utilisation, and reforms momentum have improved recently (though the latter is still slow). The Project is expected to utilize around $2.0 million by June 30, 2025. The overall risk rating under SORT was changed in the last ISR from High to Substantial recognising improvements in handling risk mitigation measures. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Business Recorder
PHCIP implementation rate termed moderately unsatisfactory
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) has rated the Punjab Human Capital Investment Project (PHCIP) implementation progress, worth around revised $146.31 million, as moderately unsatisfactory. The project was approved in March 2020 with the development objective of to increase the utilisation of quality health services, and economic and social inclusion programs among poor and vulnerable households in select districts in Punjab. The closing date of the project was 30 June 2025, which is revised to 30 June 2026. The original cost of the project was $200 million, which is revised to $146.31 million. Official documents revealed that $122.19 million of the revised $146.31 million were disbursed while $32.74 million remain un-disbursed so far. Govt approaches WB for $200m PHCIP restructuring The project remains on-track to achieve its development objectives, although there have been some delays in the pace of implementation. A total of 1,084,186 pregnant and lactating women have been registered under the Aaghosh program across the project districts. Under the economic inclusion component, economic inclusion assets have been transferred to 64,592 families. The sub-component of education is providing Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) intervention (books, furniture, learning kits) to 9,397 schools, exceeding its revised target of 8900 schools. A fully functional Grievance Redress Mechanism is also in place. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
