World Bank approves $150m for Sindh property tax and municipal services
The Sindh Property Revenues Enhancement Program will back urban immovable property tax collection and the service delivery capacity of selected local councils, Karachi foremost.
The World Bank Group's Board of Executive Directors has approved $150 million in financing for a Sindh programme to improve urban property tax collection and municipal service delivery, with Karachi named as the main focus.
The Sindh Property Revenues Enhancement Program, or Sindh PREP, is to support the provincial government in improving collection of urban immovable property tax (UIPT) and in strengthening the service delivery capacity of selected local councils, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
APP filed the report from Islamabad on 31 October and drew on a World Bank news release, which it did not carry in full. 24 News HD and Traders Union reported the same approval and the same $150 million figure. 24 News HD described the money as financing for improving Sindh's property tax revenue.
The reports did not name the local councils covered by the programme, give its duration, or set out the conditions attached to the financing. They carried no estimate of the additional revenue the programme is expected to raise and no figure for Sindh's present urban immovable property tax collection.
The World Bank's board of executive directors is the body that signs off on the institution's financing operations. The approval announced on 31 October is for the provincial government in Sindh, and the reports framed it around municipal services in the province, naming Karachi in particular.
APP's dispatch identified urban immovable property tax as the revenue instrument the programme targets, with local councils the channel through which services are to be delivered. Neither the provincial government nor the World Bank was quoted beyond that summary in the reports available.
Sindh High Court gives lawyers seven days to remove official symbols from cars
Vehicles still carrying green plates, blue lights, flashers or fake government number plates will be refused entry to the high court, the City Court and district courts.
Court grants bail to Iqrarul Hassan in cybercrime case
A Karachi court ordered his release on Rs200,000 surety bonds, three weeks after the NCCIA arrested him over posts on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Sindh forms committee to review local bodies and audit budgets
The panel, chaired by local government minister Nasir Hussain Shah, will examine illegal recruitment and budget irregularities from union councils up to district councils.
Karachi courts order park and Scheme 33 land cleared of encroachments
The Sindh High Court wants a park cleared and a report by 20 January, while a Malir civil court has given seven days to vacate eight acres in Scheme 33.