ISLAMABAD – The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors hasapproved a $100 million loan to address chronic water shortages andincrease earnings on farms in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorestprovince.
The Balochistan Water Resources Development Sector Project will focus onimproving irrigation infrastructure and water resource management in theZhob and Mula river basins.
Agriculture accounts for almost two-thirds of Balochistan’s economic outputand employs 60% of the province’s 13 million population, but frequentdrought and poor water management has put the industry, and those who relyon it, at risk. Poverty rates in the province are almost double thenational average.
“Agriculture is the backbone of Bolochistan’s economy,” said ADB PrincipalWater Resources Specialist Mr. Yaozhou Zhou. “This project will buildirrigation channels and dams, and introduce efficient water usage systemsand practices, to help farmers increase food production and make moremoney.”
Among the infrastructure that will be upgraded or built for the project isa dam able to hold 36 million cubic meters of water; 276 kilometers ofirrigation channels and drainage canals; and facilities that will make iteasier for people, especially women, to access water for domestic use. Intotal, about 16,592 hectares (ha) of land will be added or improved forirrigation.
The project will protect watersheds through extensive land and waterconservation efforts, including planting trees and other measures on 4,145ha of barren land to combat soil erosion. Part of the project’s outputs arethe pilot testing of technologies like solar-powered drip irrigationsystems on 130 ha of agricultural land, improving crop yields and waterusage on 160 fruit and vegetable farms, and demonstrating high-valueagriculture development.
The project will also establish a water resources information system thatwill use high-level technology such as satellite and remote sensing to doriver basin modelling and identify degraded land for rehabilitation.
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ADB will also administer grants from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction(JFPR) and the High-Level Technology Fund (HLT Fund) worth $3 million and$2 million, respectively, for the project.
JFPR, established in May 2000, provides grants for ADB projects supportingpoverty reduction and social development efforts, while the HLT Fund,established in April 2017, earmarks grant financing to promote technologyand innovative solutions in ADB projects.
A separate $2 million technical assistance from JFPR will helpBalochistan’s provincial government improve its institutional capacity toaddress the risks and potential impact of climate change in the agriculturesector, as well as build a climate-resilient and sustainable waterresources management mechanism in the province.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, andsustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicateextreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from theregion. In 2017, ADB operations totaled $32.2 billion, including $11.9billion in cofinancing.
