WB reviews Khyber’s community-led uplift
During the meeting with various heads of state, Sharif reinforced Pakistan’s commitment to mega-infrastructure projects such as the Trans-Afghan Railway Project, CASA-1000, IP gas pipeline and TAPI. photo: file
A senior delegation from the World Bank (WB), led by Robin Mearns, Practice Manager of Social Sustainability and Inclusion for South Asia, embarked on a visit to various project sites in Landi Kotal tehsil of the Khyber tribal district.
These projects have been successfully executed under the umbrella of the Pakistan Community Support Project (PCSP).
Khyber is a focal area for PCSP’s implementation, alongside Peshawar and Nowshera, collectively forming the CASA-1000 transmission line corridor.
The delegation comprised key members of the WB team in Pakistan, the PCSP project management team, and representatives from the district administration.
Read ‘WB-funded SFERP to have impact on human lives’
Engaging in field visits, the delegation assessed multiple sites in Landi Kotal, including a rehabilitated government girls’ primary school, a newly constructed street pavement integrated with a drainage system, and a flood protection wall that was raised in response to the community’s urgent needs after last year’s monsoon floods.
During these visits, the WB team engaged with community members and beneficiaries of these completed sub-projects, acknowledging and praising their active participation in the developmental efforts.
Earlier that day, the Project Director of PCSP, Shakeel Ahmed, provided the World Bank delegation with a comprehensive overview of the overall implementation progress and specific accomplishments across all project components. The visiting delegation lauded the transformative work undertaken by PCSP within the CASA-1000 corridor.
Robin Mearns, representing the World Bank, commended the dedication of PCSP and its profound positive impact on the community. He remarked, “The project stands as a testament to the collaborative endeavors that drive sustainable development and social inclusivity in the region.”
PCSP has evolved into a model for community-driven development, aimed at uplifting rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the Merged Areas.
The project’s implementation has empowered community members and project management to collaboratively identify the most pressing needs of citizens through participatory bottom-up planning. This approach has further culminated in enhancing the lives and livelihoods of citizens by involving them in development initiatives directly benefiting them, in line with the benefits-sharing feature of the CASA-1000 Project.
The CASA-1000 project, which involves transmitting power from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan to Pakistan, was initially conceived in 2010 during a period of severe power crisis in Pakistan.
Its agreement, however, was inked in 2015, coinciding with the emergence of significant China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) investments in the power sector, slated to install 20,000 megawatts of power projects.
CASA-1000, designed to transmit 1,000-1,300MW (equivalent to 4,000 gigawatt-hours) of electricity during surplus periods
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2023.