World Bank approves loan for Pakistan’s energy, water and climate sectors

WASHINGTON, December 22: The World Bank approved an additional financing of $35 million to support improved management, planning and development of water resources in the Indus River Basin in Pakistan with better environmental and social considerations. The additional financing from the World Bank will help to enhance the government’s capacity to address basin level management of Indus water resources, including support to climate-change adaptation and mitigation measures. Pakistan is among the most affected countries by climate change as its water, food and energy security is largely dependent on its glacial resources located in the Himalaya-Karakoram range. The original Water Sector Capacity Building and Advisory Services Project (WCAP) with $38 million World Bank support contributed substantially to the improvement of water resources management in the Indus River system. It helped equip key federal water management institutions with modern state of the art tools, improving management skills of their staff and conducting studies to inform policy. This additional financing will help to scale up existing activities as well as to enhance capacity to address energy, water and food security issues.  “Water sector issues are enormous and complex and addressing them will require a strategic engagement over the medium and long term”, says, Patchamuthu Illangovan, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.