The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$150 million in financing for the Sindh Property Revenues Enhancement Program (Sindh PREP), an initiative to improve urban property tax collection and strengthen municipal services in Sindh, in an announcement reported on October 31, 2026.
What happened?
The programme will support the Government of Sindh in modernising urban immovable property tax (UIPT) collection and building the financial capacity of local councils, with Karachi at the centre of the effort.
Key details
- Total financing approved: US$150 million for Sindh PREP.
- Karachi target: raise annual urban property tax collection from about US$8.5 million to US$85 million, by lifting compliance from 20 percent to 50 percent.
- About 70 percent of the property tax revenues collected under the programme will be reinvested directly into municipal infrastructure and services in participating councils.
- Coverage in Karachi: 25 local councils, with service investments expected to directly benefit about 3.58 million people.
- A US$40 million Investment Project Financing component will expand property surveys and tax administration to 20 local councils in other urban centres in Sindh, indirectly benefiting about 4.5 million people.
- Funding for councils will be linked to independently verified annual performance assessments, with awards financing climate-resilient infrastructure such as drainage, sewerage, roads and street lighting.
- Sindh’s local councils currently depend on provincial transfers for more than 95 percent of their revenues, according to the World Bank’s country director for Pakistan, Bolormaa Amgaabazar.
What it means for people in Pakistan
For residents of Karachi and other Sindh cities, the programme is designed to turn better local tax collection into visible local services: money raised in a council area should increasingly come back as drainage, sewerage, roads and street lighting there, rather than councils depending almost entirely on provincial transfers. The results-based design means councils that perform better should receive more support, but the real test will be whether collections and service delivery actually improve on the ground.
Source: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/business/3999929-world-bank-approves-150m-to-boost-sindh-property-taxes-and-municipal-services
