The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors is likely to approve $510 million for Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project with the objectives to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and provide short-term livelihood opportunities in selected areas of the province affected by the 2022 floods
Official sources revealed that the Board will consider the project next month, which is prepared in a situation of urgent need of assistance or capacity constraints, as per Bank Investment Project Financing (IPF) Policy.
This reconstruction project would aim to support (i) rehabilitation for critical infrastructure for priority sectors of irrigation/water resources, water supply & sanitation, and roads and allied infrastructure; (ii) provide livelihoods support through community-level cash for work programs and livestock inputs; and (iii) expansion of Sindh Emergency Services in priority districts and capacity building to respond to disasters.
The project will be implemented across the province in districts that are adversely impacted by recent floods. The exact locations of subprojects will be selected based on the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) undertaken by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations, and European Union. Sindh is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters due to its geographical location (lowest riparian and home to the Delta of River Indus), socioeconomic vulnerability, and climatic conditions. These include drought, heatwaves, floods, cyclones, windstorms, tsunamis, sea intrusion, and earthquakes.
While most of Pakistan experiences high temperatures in summer, Sindh is highly exposed to the impacts of high heat. In some areas, summer temperatures can exceed 50 degrees celsius, threatening human health, productivity, and food security. Densely populated areas such as Karachi are also at a high risk of the impacts of extreme heat. The deaths from the 2015 heatwave were concentrated in the Sindh province. The impact of droughts in the province is also severe, in January 2019, 3 million people in Sindh were impacted by moderate to severe drought due to a sharp drop in annual rainfall. Parts of Sindh are also highly vulnerable to human, infrastructure, and other asset losses from floods. Agricultural land in the low-lying areas of the province, downstream of the Indus, is also highly exposed to flooding, threatening food security in the province and across the country.
Sindh is also home to a large fraction of the coastal areas of Pakistan, which are at significant risk from a projected rise in sea level, which may go up to 40cm by the end of the 21st century even under conservative scenarios. The vulnerability of the province to climate change is further intensified due to the prevalence of high poverty rates, as much as 40-60 percent in some districts. These areas also face inadequate health services, water and sanitation, schooling, and access to electricity. Multidimensional poverty in addition to a high population and rapid urbanization makes Sindh more vulnerable to hazards when they strike.
Flood damage in Sindh
Sindh has been disproportionately affected by the 2022 floods. The province is estimated to have received rainfall in excess of 400 percent over the 30-year average. Between June 14 and September 15, 2022, 747 of the 1,638 nationwide casualties were in Sindh, including 319 children, with 8,422 people injured. Over 1.8 million houses in Sindh were damaged or destroyed, nearly 89 percent of the nationwide total.
Floods inundated almost half or more of the total district area, severely affecting Jacobabad, Larkana, Qambar Shahdad Kot, and Shikarpur districts. Likewise, floods inundated around one-fourth of the district area in Badin, Kashmore, Khairpur, and Sujawal districts.
Reports estimate that more than 3.9 million hectares of agricultural land has been destroyed in the province, giving rise to fears of impending food shortages.
