The Left Bank Outfall Drain, completed in 2002 in the coastal district of Badin, is an example of a World Bank drainage project that went terribly wrong. Designed to pump saline water and effluents from the Indus River, the LBOD brought saline water to Peer Shaikh Krio Bario village – a formerly thriving agricultural community located about ½ km from the coastline. The salt water destroyed the crops that fed the entire village and beyond. In later years, cyclones and desertification finished the destruction caused by LBOD. As a result, landowners and farmers have been wiped out. Their efforts at fishing are also unsuccessful, given that sweet water is needed for marine life. A few families have remained, but the majority find it difficult to survive.
