World Bank's USD70 million Connected Punjab programme yet to become effective
The World Bank's USD70 million Connected Punjab Programme has yet to become effective, with financing and implementation agreements still unsigned, according to a World Bank document. The delay is holding up institutional and regulatory preparations for expanding broadband access, artificial intelligence-enabled public services and cashless transactions in the province.
The programme, approved on 30 June 2026 and scheduled to close on 30 June 2031, has secured Provincial Development Working Party approval for PC-Is covering its first two results areas, the document states. However, the financing agreement and implementation entity agreement had not been signed, and approval of the PC-I for cashless transactions and the investment project financing component remained outstanding. The Bank rated progress towards the programme's development objectives and overall implementation progress as "moderately satisfactory", with overall risk assessed as moderate. No disbursements had been recorded against the revised allocation of USD69.25 million as of the reporting period.
Under the broadband component, the programme aims to raise the population covered by fixed broadband from 7.8 million in April 2026 to 9.9 million by July 2031, identify 82 target urbanised areas for coverage and enable USD50 million in private capital. It also envisages cutting average processing time for right-of-way permits from 90 days to 21 days by June 2031, with 40 agencies processing such permits through a digital platform. The government is required to establish procedures for reimbursement or waiver of right-of-way and reinstatement fees by 31 January 2027, and enable Punjab's e-Biz portal to process right-of-way applications by December 2027.
The digital service delivery component carries a substantial institutional agenda. The government is required to establish an AI Oversight Committee with citizen representation by June 2027, develop a programme manual governing AI use cases and adopt a provincial AI-for-service-delivery roadmap by December 2027. A data governance framework is due by December 2027, while a personal data protection strategy and cybersecurity strategy are scheduled for approval and notification by June 2028. The programme targets 28 AI-enabled services by June 2031 and aims to raise the share of women using digitally enabled government-to-citizen services from 19 per cent in March 2026 to 30 per cent.
Under the cashless transactions component, Punjab aims to bring 350,000 people onto cashless payments by June 2031, including 105,000 women and 157,500 young people. Targets also include establishing a regulatory framework for point-of-sale service providers, operationalising a digital invoice management system and expanding integrated digital point-of-sale payment platforms to 35 business sectors. The report identified a need to expedite approval of the relevant PC-I, while development of point-of-sale device certification procedures and a strategic plan for cashless adoption remain among the programme's prescribed actions.
