Pakistan: Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Project (Phase 2)

Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Water and other urban infrastructure and services

Pakistan's rate of urbanization is unprecedented, where cumulatively the population of its cities has expanded by over 70% during the past 2 decades alone. As a result, its cities have and continue to experience relentless urban densification and expansion, resulting in ever-increasing demand for urban services and growing pressures on urban service institutions to deliver. This situation has become acute in many cities, and especially Pakistan's intermediate cities, where urban delivery institutions are increasingly unable to cope, resulting in significant environmental degradation, unhealthy public spaces, and a severe shortage of civic amenities. The classic hallmarks of strained urban development are apparent in many cities, including unplanned and overcrowded settlements and residential areas, traffic-clogged streets and arterials, irregular and poor quality water supplies, and serious environmental and public health impacts caused by poorly functioning liquid and solid waste management systems.

Fully recognizing livable cities as engines of economic growth and centers of culture and knowledge, the government has now placed urban sector development as a key priority of its national strategic development agenda. It has also amended the constitution to decentralize urban services, paving the way to build stronger institutional capacity in municipal governments so that they can respond more rapidly and effectively to the growing needs of individual cities as they evolve. So far, urban sector reforms have included selected cities of Punjab, which is Pakistan's most populous province and generates half of the nation's gross domestic product. In this context, the Government of Punjab (GOP), through the support of its Urban Unit, has and continues to implement key urban sector reform initiatives in selected areas throughout the province, working closely with international development partners to upgrade and expand urban infrastructure, and reform and build capacity in infrastructure service delivery institutions. This has notably included support from the World Bank, which has provided assistance to five large cities of Punjab, and more recently from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through PICIIP (Phase 1).