EIB commits €160M for housing, water improvements in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The European Investment Bank’s international development arm, EIB Global, on Wednesday committed €160 million to help Pakistan rebuild homes in Sindh and to improve water quality in Karachi.

The pledge, which marks a return of the bank’s financing to the country after a decade, was announced at the conclusion of the two-day European Union–Pakistan business forum in Islamabad.

During a European Union–Pakistan business forum in Islamabad, EIB committed that it would provide a €100 million loan to the government for the housing initiative in Sindh, where the world’s largest ongoing reconstruction program aims to rebuild around 2.1 million rural homes damaged by devastating floods in 2022, a press release issued by the bank said.

The bank would also lend €60 million to the government for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation to build “two energy-efficient filtration plants in the towns of Gharo and Pipri” to the east of the city. 

As a result, Karachi, the provincial capital, would be supplied with about “300 million liters of clean drinking water per day, enough to meet the needs of 2.2 million residents.”

According to the EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer, the loan would help strengthen climate resilience, improve access to safe drinking water, and support inclusive, sustainable development, particularly for the most vulnerable people.

“This also marks an important step as the EIB resumes financing in Pakistan after a decade, reaffirming our commitment to support climate resilience and inclusive recovery,” Beer said, according to the press release. 

EU Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis said that the re-engagement of EIB in Pakistan is critical for the country to “benefit fully from the opportunities deriving from the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.”

“We are confident that, in the course of the next few years, much more de-risked investments will be agreed between the EIB and Pakistan,” Karoblis said.   

According to the press release, the housing reconstruction program in Sindh is also supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the provincial government.