ADB Approves Technical Assistance of $2 Million for Preparing Sindh Coastal Resilience Project

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved technical assistance of worth $2 million for “Preparing the Sindh Coastal Resilience Sector Project”. The Sindh Coastal Resilience Project will support the development of a resilient coastal region in Sindh province. The project will focus on the districts of Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin. Conditions in these coastal area districts have been degraded by a confluence of environmental factors, resulting in land subsidence, flooding, erosion, and saline intrusion. These are now expected to be exacerbated further by climate change. Poverty rates are high, education and literacy rates are low, there is poor access to services and basic amenities. There is a lack of integrated approaches to risk mitigation incorporating nature-based solutions. The transaction technical assistance will help the government prepare the project with a high degree of readiness. It will have two outputs: (i) Coastal resilience strategic framework with priority investments prepared; and (ii) project prepared with enhanced readiness. Operational priorities include (i) OP2: accelerating progress in gender equality, (ii) OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability and (iii) OP5: Promoting rural development and food security.