ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved technical assistance of US two million dollars for “Preparing the Sindh Coastal Resilience Sector Project.”

The Sindh Coastal Resilience Project will support the development of a resilient coastal region in Sindh province. The project will focus on the Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin districts. Conditions in these districts have been degraded by a confluence of environmental factors, resulting in land subsidence, flooding, erosion, and saline intrusion.

These are now expected to be exacerbated further by climate change. Poverty rates are high, education and literacy rates are lowand there is poor access to services and basic amenities.

There is a lack of integrated approaches to risk mitigation incorporating nature-based solutions.

The transaction technical assistance will help the government prepare the project with a high degree of readiness. It will have two outputs: (i) Coastal resilience strategic framework with priority investments prepared; and (ii) project prepared with enhanced readiness.

Operational priorities include (i) OP2: accelerating progress in gender equality, (ii) OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability and (iii) OP5: Promoting rural development and food security.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023