Sindh to expand urban property tax base fivefold under $150 million World Bank-backed programme

Profit reported that the Sindh government intends to widen its recorded urban property tax base more than fivefold, moving from roughly 397,375 to 2.15 million properties across 20 local councils. The plan falls under the Sindh Property Revenues Enhancement Program, a $150 million scheme backed by the World Bank. Funding splits into $110 million via the Program-for-Results route and $40 million from IPF lending, with the Local Government Department to run it, according to official documents.

Only about one in five properties in the five IPF divisions has been surveyed and entered in the UIPT cadastre, which lists 397,375 records. That leaves most of the roughly 2.1 million properties in those areas unrecorded. The planned survey, using GIS mapping and door-to-door visits, is expected to lift the recorded count to around 2.15 million, with teams geo-tagging homes and businesses for a new management information system.

Survey coverage spans 20 councils outside Karachi: nine in Hyderabad, four in Larkana, three in Sukkur, two in Mirpurkhas and two in Shaheed Benazirabad. The IPF element also finances digitised land records, a digital master plan and an Integrated Financial Management Information System. Profit noted that residents would get advance notice of visits and ways to inspect and correct entries, and that the survey alone is not a tax demand. The World Bank estimates about 4.5 million people live in the IPF areas.