ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Friday suspended the Integrated Water Resources Management and Development project for Balochistan over lack of progress in management and funds disbursement.

In a statement, the WB offered to work with the Baloch­istan government over the next 30 days to restructure the scope and governance arrangements to more realistically deliver sustainable water management to the province.

On June 28, 2016, the bank had approved a $200 million credit to strengthen the Balochistan government’s initiative for community-based water management for irrigation in the province.

The project was designed to boost farmers’ incomes through a new irrigation infrastructure and improved on-farm management and rangeland management. An associated objective was building the province’s capacity for long-term water resources planning.

The Balochistan integrated water resources management and development project was to support investments in two of the 18 basins in Balochistan — the Nari and Porali river basins. These river basins were selected based on an assessment of surface water resources development opportunities.

Sustainable water management is a priority for Baloch­istan and the World Bank is strongly committed to working with its government to develop this critical resource for the people of the province. The bank will continue to work with the government on successfully implementing the wider programme of support for the province.

The World Bank currently has commitments of more than $250m in Balochistan, with the main investments in education, health, governance and water. The overall World Bank portfolio in Pakistan has 40 projects with a commitment of $7.42bn, including investments of over $3bn in water management, hydropower and irrigated agriculture. The development objective of the project for Balochistan was to strengthen the provincial government capacity for water resources monitoring and management and to improve community-based water management for targeted irrigation schemes in the province.

The main project beneficiaries will be small-holding farmers (up to 12.3 acres) and medium holding farmers (12.35 to 49.4 acres) engaged in irrigated agriculture. Approximately, 42,800 farm households will benefit from the project’s interventions.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2019