K & P

Bouncing back: Mechanism finalised for speedy rehabilitation in Chitral

Community-based organisations can now directly submit proposals to district authorities

Our Correspondent August 25, 2015

Orakzai said, We need to act efficiently to respond to the situation in Chitral. PHOTO: financekpp.gov.pk

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Community-Driven Local Development (CDLD) programme has finalised a mechanism for speedy rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Chitral.

This was announced by Finance Secretary Ahmed Hanif Orakzai at the fourth Policy Coordination and Review Committee meeting at the department office on Tuesday.

“We need to act efficiently to respond to the situation in Chitral,” Orakzai said. “As a result, we have decided to make special arrangements to expedite the implementation of the programme’s projects in the district. All decisions have been taken in accordance with the guidelines followed by CDLD.”

Relaxation policy

The mechanism has been prepared on the basis of directives issued by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. Once it has been fully implemented, community-based organisations will be able to directly submit their project proposals to the district authorities for review and approval. As a result, organisations will not have to go through a long bureaucratic procedure.

Moreover, even the maximum funds limit of CDLD projects for Chitral has been increased from Rs2.5 million to Rs5 million.

The CDLD policy also requires monetary contribution of 10% from the communities.

During the fiscal year 2015-2016, the total allocation for Chitral is Rs0.34 billion. This amount will be spent on communities’ priority rehabilitation requirements.

Progress work

The meeting also reviewed the overall implementation of work done under CDLD programmes in selected districts of Malakand division – including Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Malakand, Shangla
and Swat.

A delegation of European Union, the partner agency of the K-P government for CDLD policy implementation, along with representatives from the line departments, the district authorities, technical assistance teams and the social mobilisation partner also put forward their recommendations during the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2015.