Chairman Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) Altaf Saleem has said that major reconstruction work in quake-hit areas has been completed with the help of donors. Addressing the inaugural session of the three days Erra International Conference, Saleem said this was not an easy task to deal with natural calamity of such magnitude, but generous contributions of development partners have helped Erra complete the task of reconstruction.
Deputy Chairman Erra, Lieutenant General Sajjad Akram, who apprised the participants of Erra's achievements after 2005 earthquake, said that they were tasked to complete 13,000 projects of which over 80 percent have been completed while remaining would be completed by December 2001-11.
He said work has already been started on construction of Muzaffarabad city, while land payment for Balakot was made and work on the project would be started as soon as the land would be allocated by the provincial government. He claimed that Erra maintained transparency and accountability in payment to the affectees.
An official of Erra confided to Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that they would require Rs 45 billion in next fiscal from both the donors and government for timely completion of the remaining projects, till December 2011. He was of the view that they had demanded Rs 45 billion for the on-going fiscal but were provided only half and had no money to continue the work.
Country Director World Bank, Raja Rehan Arshad said that World Bank has been a key partner in Erra's Rural Housing Reconstruction Programme (RHRP), which has been recognised as a global success both in terms of quality and quantity. The ADB representative also spoke on the occasion, besides the head of DFID and resident director Islamic Development Bank.
Comments
Comments are closed.