Funds shortage behind delay in completion of projects: Erra

MANSEHRA: Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) Deputy Chairman Brigadier Abu Bakr Amin Bajwa Tuesday said that shortage of funds was a hurdle to the completion of 14,750 projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“We have completed 10,438 projects allotted to Erra after devastating earthquake in 2005, which is almost 70 percent of the total reconstruction occurred in the country,” Bajwa told reporters at the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital (KATH), which is being reconstructed with the financial assistance of Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi delegation led by chief engineer of Saudi Fund for Development, Abdullah Al Shohabi, visited the hospital along with Bajwa and reviewed the construction work.

KATH Medical Superintendent Dr Mohammad Javed Tanoli briefed the delegation about reconstruction of the hospital, saying that work was now well in progress. “We have diverted almost 50 percent of total funds to Erra on health and education sectors as reconstruction of schools and health facilities is our priority,” said Bajwa.

Talking to reporters, Abdullah Al Shohabi said his country had not only provided over 8000 prefabricated shelters to survivor families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and AJK but also reconstructed hundreds of schools and facilities and granted 600 million riyal for building AJK University and KATH.