The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) is facing serious financial constraints in executing reconstruction projects in the earthquake affected areas. The officials of the Authority said that it would be unable to award fresh tenders for the remaining projects in the affected areas if the required funds were not released by the government on time.
ERRA spokeswoman Shazia Harris stated that while ERRA is extremely sensitive to the massive needs of the flood affectees as well as the economic constraints facing the country today yet she emphasised the need to ensure that all projects related to the devastation caused by the earthquake are completed.
The federal government allocated Rs 10 billion for the development projects in the earthquake affected areas against the requirements of Rs 40 billion for the fiscal year 2010-11, an ERRA official said, adding that the funds are insufficient even for completing on-going projects.
The official said that negotiations are underway with the Federal government for release of more funds to complete the projects however there is no headway as far as sanction of additional funds is concerned. The official said that $6.2 billion were pledged at the international donor conference held in Islamabad soon after the devastating earthquake in 2005; with grants to soft loans at 40:60 ratio.
Out of that amount $5.57 billion has been received so far and $2.2 billion spent on relief and rescue operations at the initial stage whereas $3.7 billion were spent on reconstruction and rehabilitation. However, total estimated cost of reconstruction of the affected areas is over $5.7 billion.
The ERRA official said that international donors continue to support ERRA and the release of the bulk of the pledged amount speaks volumes about ERRA's credibility. However, while pledges for the earthquake affected areas from international donors were timely yet the government failed to allocate the required funds due to the financial crunch.
Shazia said that the Authority was not going to abandon any project in the affected areas but there would be downsizing and rightsizing in the department to reduce the non-development expenditure. She was optimistic that negotiations with the government would bear fruit and ERRA would complete the remaining projects in the affected areas by 2012.
She said that the rural housing program of ERRA was introduced as an international model by World Bank and Asian Development Bank. About 90 percent of the rural housing schemes have been completed so far, she observed. According to the details, a total of 12775 projects were to be executed in the affected areas comprising both hardcore and soft core projects.
The hardcore projects included housing, education, health, water and sanitation, government buildings, power, telecommunication and transportation. The soft core projects included livelihood, social protection, environment and tourism. According to details as many as 6238 projects have been completed, 4412 are under construction and 2294 are in designing stage.
A total of 187 projects were completed in Kohistan, 1164 in Muzzafarabad, 422 in Shanglla, 1413 in Mansehra, 106 in Neelum, 694 projects in Abbotabad, 620 in Bagh, 9 projects in Sunhnotha, 300 in Punch. And the area-wise distribution of under construction projects is: 219 in Shanglla, 343 in Kohistan, 758 in Mansehra, 151 in Neelum, 410 in Abbottabad, 518 in Poonch, 709 in Bagh and 21 projects in Sunhnotta.
Out of a total of 1561 projects for which tenders will be awarded, as many as 325 are in Kohistan, 51 in Shangalla, 96 in Battgram, 260 in Manshehra, 48 in Neelum, 362 in Muzzafarabad, 233 in Bagh, 58 in Abbottabad, 112 in Poonch and six projects in Sudhnothtan. A total of 733 projects are in the designing process out of which 30 are in Kohistan, 11 in Shangalla, 15 in Battagram, 82 in Mansehra, 343 in Muzzafarabad, 154 in Bagh, 31 in Poonch and one project in Sudhnotta.
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