Floods: Work on comprehensive rehabilitation plan begins

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has geared up its efforts to implement the Resilient Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3 RD) while engaging the donors before presenting it to the donor conference to be held soon.

Secretary Planning Commission, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, on Friday chaired a consultative meeting with the donors and diplomats representing various countries, so that a comprehensive rehabilitation plan comprising short-term and long-term could be presented before the donor conference.

Last month, the Planning Commission, in collaboration with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union, conducted the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and called for coordinated international support.

The consultative meeting was attended by the representatives of donors and officials of the Planning Commission. Member Infrastructure Planning gave a detailed briefing to the participants highlighting the short-term and long-term rehabilitation plan in 17 sectors, particularly in infrastructure, education and health.

During the meeting, the secretary Planning Commission informed the participants that the basic objective of this meeting is to expedite the consultative process by engaging the donors before presenting a comprehensive plan at the donors conference. “The 17 sectors have been properly covered in 3 RD, which needs maximum funds to rebuild climate resilient infrastructure in flood-affected areas,” said Syed Zafar Ali Shah, while appreciating the donors for supporting Pakistan.

During the meeting, several projects were highlighted, which have been recently started by the provincial governments after the recent floods in collaboration with the donors based on climate resilience.

It is noted that the majority of the projects will be executed by the provinces in their relevant sectors like the ML-1 project, which will be executed by the Pakistan Railways. The railway track has been badly affected in the flood.

“The consultative process will continue and the ministry will hold another round of meetings next week before finalising a concrete plan that could uplift the country in the rehabilitation phase,’’ he added.

Pakistan strongly pleaded its case before the COP27 Cli mate Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh and urged the world to support it despite it having a less than 1% contribution to global warming.The donors appreciated the efforts of Planning Commission and assured to continue their support in the second phase of rehabilitation.