Pakistan Sindh Barrages Improvement Project

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The World Bank Board of Directors will discuss the Sindh Barrages Improvement Project in Pakistan on Friday, June 19. Upon approval, this project will receive a total of $188 million from the World Bank for a grand total of $208 million.

The Project Development Outcome is to improve the reliability and safety of the Guddu barrage and strengthen the Sindh Irrigation Department’s capacity to operate and manage the barrage. The project consists of three different components:

  • Rehabilitation of the Guddu Barrage
  • Improved Barrage Operation
  • Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation

The Project Management Office under the Irrigation Department will be the implementing agency, while the Project Coordination and Management Unit (PCMU) of the Planning and Development Department (PDD) shall provide coordination, monitoring of citizens’ feedback, and evaluation.

Three large barrages were built between 1932 and 1962 on the Indus River in Sindh Province. The northern one, Guddu barrage, has developed major safety issues. The second one, Sukkur Barrage, is one of the oldest and serves about three million ha of agricultural land. Over the decades, it has also developed safety issues. Repairs on the Sukkur barrage are being carried out regularly. The last barrage (most southerly), the Kotri barrage, was rehabilitated in 2000. This project will finance rehabilitation of the Guddu Barrage.

The primary function of the gatedGuddu barrage is to service the irrigation of over one million ha of agricultural land by feeding theBeghariSindh Feeder and the Desert Pat Feeder main canals on the right side of the river and theGhotki Feeder on the left side. The barrage is also used for river control and flood management. It is also an important transport link across the Indus River and provides cooling water for the thermal power station atGuddu. Two major gas lines cross the barrage. The barrage was commissioned in 1962 and has now served for over 50 years. It consists of 65 gates. The gates, each weighing 55 tons, are of the ‘fixed wheel’ type andoperate without counterweights. TheGuddu barrageconstitutes the most strategiccomponent of the large Indus Basin Irrigation System. The effective operations and structural stability are important for agricultural production and for averting potential disaster during floods. The goal of the project is to rehabilitate and modernize theGuddu barrage.

More information can be found at the project website, and in the Project Identification Document (PID). The World Bank team can also be contacted with more specific questions about the project, such as procurement-related questions.