Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar informed the Lower House of the Parliament on Monday that a comprehensive roadmap has been devised for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the infrastructure destroyed by the 2022 flood.
Responding to the concerns of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians lawmaker Dr Nafisa Shah in the National Assembly, he said, “Immediate relief work has already been done throughout the country with the disbursement of Rs25,000 per family through the BISP programme. Almost Rs100 billion have already been spent in addition to the assistance extended by NDMA in kind.”
Ishaq Dar said that the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet had recently approved Rs12 billion to replenish the stock of the National Disaster Management Authority, keeping in view the predicted threats of the monsoon and the cyclone.
Following the widespread destruction caused by the heavy rains and floods, he said a comprehensive report had been prepared in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Union and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives that suggested the economic and physical loses stood at around $30.3 billion.
The finance minister said that funds valuing $16.3 billion were required to execute the physical work like repair of damaged houses and infrastructure, under the ‘4RF’ strategy i.e. resilient, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction
In the General Donors Conference, he said less than $400 million were received while the pledges were made for bearing 50 per cent financing for the reconstruction and rehabilitation work.
Ishaq Dar said a committee, comprising the Sindh Chief Minister, and federal ministers including Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Sherry Rehman, was holding meetings and the roadmap in this regard had almost been devised.
