Pak: Japan to offer loan for upliftment scheme

Karachi: The Japanese government will provide Rs 6.5 billion soft loans to the Sindh government to undertake different uplift schemes, including road and water projects, in the province.

Sources in the Sindh Finance Department told Business Recorder here on Monday that under the Japanese-assisted rural roads construction project, phase-II, the Sindh government would be provided with Rs 3,736.890 million to upgrade road network in the rural areas.

'During the 2007-08 fiscal year, Rs 100 million has been allocated to initiate the construction of roads in remote areas of the province,' sources said. Elaborating, the sources said that under the roads construction project a total of 452 kilometres of roads would be constructed in different areas of the province, aimed at improving the communication between the districts.

It may be pointed out that the Sindh government would also carry out a rural road construction project for which the Asian Development Bank would provide loan of Rs 2.16 billion to the provincial government. Moreover, Japan will provide Rs 2.77 billion as a soft loan for Karachi water supply project so as to improve the water supply in the metropolis, besides reducing water scarcity.

The project would further enhance the water supply to meet the water demand of sprawling population of Karachi and to ensure filtration of the water. Japan has shown grave concerns over the reports about the rapid surge in water-borne diseases in the metropolis apparently owing to unavailability of the filter facility for water being supplied to Karachi, sources said.

It further added that installation of large water filters would ensure to supply clean water to Karachiites under this project. 'The paper work and planning of both of the projects have almost been completed and work on these new projects will be initiated soon,' sources said.