Disaster & climate resilience project: World Bank to give Rs 10.24 billion loan to Punjab

The World Bank would provide Rs 10.24 billion assistance to the Government of Punjab for a project of improvement in disaster and climate resilience project. According to documents available with Business Recorder, heavy monsoon rains and floods in 2014 in catchment areas of the eastern rivers of Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Jhelum resulted in flash floods that caused havoc to large areas in various districts of the province damaging community physical infrastructure as well as bringing destruction to private housing and agriculture.
The causes of devastation, though both seasonal and related can be classified into two categories in terms of their impact. In Punjab, 16 districts were primarily affected by the flooding in the eastern rivers, 12 additional districts also bore severe damage due to heavy rainfall.
The project is 100% credit financing of World Bank and it would be completed in four years - July 2015 to June 2019. The project is related to the issue of water conservation, mining of groundwater, and protection of infrastructure from onslaught of floods, seepage losses in irrigation system, deteriorating institutional capacities of key water sector institutions and increased poverty in backward irrigated areas.
The main purpose of the project is to increase agricultural area and to protect food security, identification of extent of flood in the area, planning for flood relief operation and promotion of employment opportunities in the rural sector etc. The main objective of the assistance is to contribute to the economic and social recovery of flood affected areas, through the restoration and reconstruction of critical infrastructure to safer standards.
According to documents, the project involves 100% loan, therefore it is necessary that the Punjab Government certifies in writing that the loan will be paid back by the Punjab government from its own resources. The project would up-grade the irrigation land and other existing infrastructure in the river area and flood protective embankment by addressing afflux issues, flood bunds, approach embankments, groynes, spurs, studs etc for river waterway control.
Technical assistance and international expertise in this area will be provided to ensure compliance with resilient standards. The project will support in-depth studies to determine the frequencies for the concurrence of floods of various magnitudes, flood routing studies, and assessment of food impacts with various return periods.