By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a $70 million loan to help Pakistan’s Punjab province expand broadband internet access, strengthen digital public services and reduce reliance on cash transactions, the lender said.
The financing, channelled through the World Bank’s International Development Association, will fund the Connected Punjab Programme, which forms part of a wider government investment initiative worth $278 million. The Punjab government will contribute $208 million in counterpart funding to the effort, according to a World Bank statement.
The programme is designed to work alongside Pakistan’s national digital agenda, under which the federal government is building digital public infrastructure through its Digital Economy Enhancement Project. The World Bank said the Connected Punjab Programme would build on that federal groundwork, translating national platforms, policies and connectivity investments into direct benefits for people and businesses in Punjab.
“Digital connectivity is no longer a luxury, it is the infrastructure of opportunity,” Bolormaa Amgaabazar, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, said in the statement. “The federal government has laid out a bold vision for Pakistan’s digital future, and Connected Punjab is how that vision reaches the doorsteps of millions of people across the province.”
She said expanding broadband access and strengthening the province’s digital backbone would open new opportunities for citizens, particularly women and young people, to take part in the economy and access public services.
A central aim of the programme is to remove regulatory and cost obstacles that have discouraged private investment in broadband infrastructure, especially in underserved urban areas. The World Bank said the initiative would cut average processing times for Right-of-Way permits, which govern the laying of telecommunications infrastructure, to 21 days from 90 days.
That change is intended to encourage private companies to extend fixed broadband coverage to 9.9 million people by June 2031, up from 7.8 million currently, bringing roughly 2.1 million additional people online. The programme also aims to unlock at least $50 million in private capital investment in digital infrastructure.
A second strand of the programme focuses on shared digital infrastructure and institutional capacity to support artificial intelligence-enabled public services across Punjab’s provincial and local government agencies. The World Bank said the funding would support investment in government computing infrastructure, enabling public agencies to develop and deliver AI-powered services at scale.
The programme aims to extend enhanced digital public services to 28.9 million people by June 2031. It also sets a target of raising the share of women using digital government services to 30% from 19%.
The third component addresses the regulatory and systems groundwork needed to reduce Punjab’s dependence on cash. The World Bank said the programme would establish a Digital Invoice Management System and build interoperable payment infrastructure linking payments, invoices and government reporting, with a target of 350,000 people actively using cashless payment systems by June 2031.
Shahbaz Khan, senior digital specialist at the World Bank in Pakistan, said the country’s newly developed Digital and AI Compact set the national direction, while the Digital Economy Enhancement Project was building the digital public infrastructure backbone at the federal level.
“Connected Punjab is the provincial expression of that same ambition, complementing federal investments by expanding fibre connectivity through private sector facilitation, deploying locally relevant AI-enabled services, and building a digital payments ecosystem that supports formalisation and inclusive growth across the province,” Khan said. “Together, these investments form a coherent and mutually reinforcing digital transformation agenda for Pakistan.”
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
