World Bank to resume economic activities in flood-hit areas

A World Bank (WB) team has started getting feedback from industrialists in affected areas on how to resume economic activities and devise a programme to providing earning means to the people and restoring production cycle of the affected industry in flood hit areas.
World Bank's senior finance and private sector specialist for South Asia region Ms Shabana Khawar told a meeting of industrialists at Multan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) on Tuesday that WB would do whatever possible to help Pakistan come out of the devastating impact of floods.
Accompanying two economists, she said, on the request of Pakistan government, the World Bank was conducting survey of the flood-hit areas in co-operation with Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the purpose to provide a credible survey report and to tell the world about the magnitude of the damages caused by floods.
Christian Eigon Zucchi, an economist and WB team member, said that our teams were busy in conducting survey in flood hit South Punjab and were also contacting industrialists and other relevant people to get feedback on how to make the affected industry operational and provide earning means to the affected people.
We are also assessing the damage caused by floods to the sectors including education, health, agriculture, transport, power and social sector, the WB economist said. WB team urged all the stakeholders to submit their proposals regarding rehabilitation. Another economist Waheed kept asking questions from the industrialists which sectors were hit badly and the magnitude of losses.
Sheikh Saeed, the executive body member of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) and its chairman Malik Akram said that 40 ginning factories were hit by floods in DG Khan and Rajanpur and another 25 in Muzaffargarh.
They added that 140 workers including 100 ordinary and 40 technical workers were left jobless at each affected ginning factory due to floods. Machinery was damaged due to moisture, water and dust. They, however, hastened to add they would not be able to replace the whole machinery due to the high cost involved.
Malik Israr Ahmad Awan, the president MCCI, said that floods have also ruined fishfarms, poultryfarms and food processing units that have hurt the economic activities badly.
The industrialists suggested soft-term loans with zero mark up rate to resume operations of affected industry while homes of the affected people be rebuilt and growers be provided resources to purchase cattle heads they had lost in floods and the agriculture implements to cultivate crops.