The World Bank will extend Rs 32.2 billion for "Competitive & Livable City of Karachi (CLICK)" project to transform the metropolis into a livable, inclusive and competitive mega city. According to the official documents of the project, the total cost of the project comes to around Rs 33.600 billion, in which Government of Sindh will contribute Rs 1.4 billion, which is approximately five percent of the cost of the project.
Three Project Management Units will be established in three departments of government of Sindh ie, Local Government Department (LGD), Excise & Taxation Department (E&TD), and Sindh Investment Department (SID) which will manage, coordinate project activities, and will be responsible for project implementation in their respective domain.
Each PMU will be headed by a Project Director assisted by Technical and supporting staff. An Inter-departmental Steering Committee under the chairmanship of Planning & Development Board (P&D) of Sindh's head will be established.
The Committee will oversight project implementations, ensure sustainability, facilitate inter-agency coordination, resolve dispute, approve policies and regulation, etc. Karachi having the population of 16 million contributes 15 percent of national GDP, largest share of national tax revenues, industrial employment, manufacturing and high-end services.
City is listed among the five least livable cities in the world, ranked 137 out of 140. There are four interlinked constraints which are impacting the city's livability and competitiveness: (a) Very low institutional capacity due to institutional fragmentation, nascent systems, and unclear and overlapping responsibilities; (b) Poor and declining basic service delivery; (c) limited financing for the city and inadequate capital investment due to poor own-source revenue (OSR) generation; and (d) Onerous and opaque business environment constraining private sector investment and operations.
The project is offshoot of Karachi Transformation Strategy (KTS) and is expected to long-term engagement of WB in Karachi to address the structure development needs of the city and is aimed at competitiveness and livability of Karachi.
The project will also support provincial government's agenda to turn Karachi into a more livable, inclusive and competitive mega city and address its several constraints in an incremental and systematic manner, through a long-term engagement platform for the city given the scale and complexity of its challenges.
The specific objectives of the project are to improve the performance of Karachi Local Councils and agencies in urban management, financing and service delivery and to improve the business environment for private sector development in Karachi. The project will transform Karachi into creative, eco-friendly sustainable cities through improved city governance, effective urban planning effective local mobility infrastructure and better security to make urbanization. Project has been scheduled to be implemented in five years time by initiating the work on it from 1st July 2019 to conclude it by 30th June, 2024.
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