WB agrees to fund Rs110bn housing project for flood victims in Sindh

With the assistance of the World Bank, the Sindh government will launch a housing project worth Rs110 billion for the flood-affected people for which a special unit would be established under the chief secretary.

This emerged on Friday during a virtual meeting between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine who conferred with the CM through video link from Islamabad.

The CM said he had already deputed teams to clear water from the flooded towns and villages in the province. “The de-watering process is in progress and hopefully within one-and-a-half months, it will be completed,” he added. He informed the World Bank country director that the government would start construction of houses for the affected people once the floodwaters had been drained off.

Shah said the winter season was about to commence, due to which the provincial government wanted to make housing arrangements for the flood-hit. He urged the World Bank to finance the housing project.

The CM and the World Bank country director after a thorough discussion decided to launch the project for Rs110 billion, for which a company would be established under the control of the chief secretary.

The two sides agreed that the chief executive officer (CEO) of the proposed company with the support of the public and private sector would start the construction of houses for which a survey was in progress.

Karachi projects

The CM also took up the issue of damaged infrastructure of Karachi with the World Bank saying that the urban floods had damaged the road network and drainage system in the city.

He added that he wanted to start a project to reconstruct the damaged roads of the city and needed Rs13 billion for it. The World Bank committed Rs6 billion for the project. The CM said that he would arrange the remaining amount of Rs7 billion from other sources.

About the repair and reconstruction of the sewerage lines, Shah said the recent heavy rains had caused them to cave in. He told the World Bank that his government had worked out a Rs25 billion scheme to renovate the sewerage system.

The country director of the donor agency agreed that the project would be financed through the KWSSIP (Karachi Water & Sewerage Services Improvement) project. The project of reconstruction of the Jam Sadiq Bridge or a parallel bridge alongside it was also discussed in the meeting.

Agriculture

Discussing the plight of growers in the province, Shah said that the floods had caused irreparable loss to the farmers. He added that his government had prepared a scheme of Rs30 billion to provide subsidies to growers in the heads of fertiliser and certified seeds.

“We have to revive our flooded agro-industry by giving them some incentives,” the CM said, adding that the growers were not in such a position to purchase certified seeds, fertiliser and other inputs. The World Bank agreed to provide $323 billion for the purpose so that the growers could reclaim their lands from the floods and sow for the upcoming rabi crop.