In a bid to cope with the ever-increasing health and climate issues owing to rapid urbanization in the major cities of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $387 million to improve the community and livability in the five districts of KP. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project is going to help provide the facilities like clean water facilities, functioning of tube wells and sewerage treatment facilities, and some other small projects. The financial assistance by the ADB will benefit around 3.5 million residents of Abbottabad, Peshawer, Mingora, Kohat, and Mardan. As per details of the press release around 150000 people will get new water connections. On the other hand, CM KPK is also monitoring the progress of the Promotion Of Tourism In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
And now with the rapid increase in urbanization with minimum heed paid to the required amenities to provide a better living style, the KP cities are more vulnerable to health and environmental issues. The idea behind the ADB Loan For KPK Development is to ensure the availability of much-needed municipal services to the growing urban population. ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov said, “Large urban projects are often delayed due to their inherent complexity and competing interests in limited urban space,”. He further continued, “This project has used ADB’s project readiness financing facility to ensure detailed engineering design, safeguards assessments, and other critical preparatory work was completed in advance - a first for central and west Asia region. That will ensure that the transformative benefits of this project flow to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province more quickly,”
The statement by the DG further elaborates the financing by the ADB and said that it will provide a $380 million loan and a $5 million grant, while the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will provide co-financing of $200 million subject to the approval of their board of directors. Together with $65 million in financing from the government of Pakistan, this represents ADB’s largest urban project ($650 million equivalent) in Pakistan. The loan also includes $ 106 million for environmental issues in the province which is the bank’s largest financing contribution in any urban project in 2021 that shows the commitment of the ADB in fighting climate change. He added.
