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Project-related activities in the World Bank (WB)-funded Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation (SWAT) project — another multi-billion-rupee WB-funded project aimed at transforming Sindh’s water and agriculture sectors — are set to pick up pace this year.
The project — the third in a series of major foreign-funded projects in the last 15 years — focuses on achieving enhanced productivity and improved water resource management in the province. Several other interventions, including digitisation of crop data, technical study of Sukkur barrage’s right bank areas, smart subsidies, etc, are part of the project.
SWAT encompasses policy-level decisions, including a new integrated irrigation law, coupled with the reshaping of the provincial irrigation department with a broader outlook. The new law, which is likely to disband the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) in its present shape, was being drafted in consultation with stakeholders before it was tabled in the Sindh Assembly for passage.
Sindh’s irrigation and agriculture sectors have witnessed identical projects like the Water Sector Improvement Project, which wound up in 2020, the Sindh Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP) and the Sindh Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project.
