Islamabad - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Pakistan with a loan of 300 million dollars to improve water and sanitation services in six cities of country's southern province of Sindh, a Pakistani official said on Friday.

"This program is aimed at bringing improvement in water, sanitation and solid waste management areas of these cities," Farrakh Qayyum, Pakistan's Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division told reporters after signing an agreement with ADB's country director, Rune Stroem.

Sindh, Pakistan's second most populous province, is faced with rising population growth, a severe deficit of basic urban infrastructure and services and growing urban poverty.

Limited access to and poor quality of water supply, together with poor sanitation, is causing a spread of diseases and chronic illnesses such as diarrhea, especially among children.

The first tranche of 38 million million dollars of ADB's multi-tranche financing, planned for the 2009-2012 period will focus on institutional change and priority infrastructure for the cities of Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Shikarpur and Larkana.

"The investment will help the provincial government of Sindh cope with mounting challenges in providing basic urban services to an estimated four million residents over the next several years," Stroem said. (dpa)