Karachi, A World Bank technical mission recently visited Manchar Lake to inspect the rehabilitation and construction work done on the flood protection infrastructure. This visit is part of the Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project (SFERP) Irrigation Component, funded by the World Bank, in response to the devastating floods of 2022.

According to The World Bank, the technical mission comprised of Mr. Ahsan Tehsin, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Task Team Leader, along with Ms. Amparo Samper Hiraldo, Mr. Alessandro Palmieri, Mr. Juan Soler Cabado, Mr. Hendrik Arnold Vernoon, Mr. Bilal Khalid, and Aijaz Shaikh. They reviewed the progress of the project, which aimed to bolster the climate change and disaster resilience of the affected communities.

Iqbal Ahmed Palejo, Additional Director of the SFERP, briefed the team about various components of the project, including the widening of Aral Wah to handle a discharge of 52,000 cusecs from Manchhar Lake to the River Indus during high floods. He also mentioned the installation of 120 pile foundations at the Aral head regulator and the construction of a 17-kilometer-long retaining wall on both sides of the Danister Channel to protect nearby villages and increase the channel’s discharge capacity.

Naeem Arif, from the project implementation consultant team, informed the World Bank mission about the full rehabilitation of Manchar Lake after the 2022 floods. The rehabilitation work is expected to protect nearby towns like Sehwan, Bubak, and Bhan Syedabad from future heavy floods and disasters.

Nasir Ali Panhwar, a social safeguard consultant of SFERP, stressed that Sindh, being a province highly vulnerable to climate change, requires the development of climate-resilient infrastructure to effectively manage future disasters.