Piling on debt: Flood affectees’ housing project raises eyebrows

Activists feel a mammoth loan is unnecessary, cite potential corruption as a problem

KARACHI:

The flood is long gone but the devastation remains; hence, the focus now for the provincial government is on a rehabilitation drive, especially the construction of houses for those currently living in tent settlements.

Even though the Sindh government’s announcement of building roughly 1.5 to 1.8 million houses might have given flood affected families a semblance of hope, activists have put question marks upon the incumbent government’s ability to actually deliver on such a promise.

Rehmatullah Buriro, a social activist and political worker from Sukkur, was of the view that the chances of corruption in such a mega scheme were high. “The government needs to provide assurances that it will provide a money trail for the mammoth amounts they will spend on the project,” Buriro implored, further adding that this money was solely for the benefit of the flood victims and could not be squandered. The exorbitant amount that Buriro mentioned is upwards of Rs100 billion and is being provided by the World Bank to help with the rehabilitation efforts, as per Spokesperson of Sindh Chief Minister, Abdul Rasheed Channa.

The spokesperson informed The Express Tribune that a housing company, which would oversee the project, had been set up at the request of the World Bank. However, Yasmin Lari, an architect and activist, feels that taking such enormous loans is not a well thought out plan. “Instead of building houses, the Sindh government should provide adequate loans on easy terms to flood affectees so that they can build houses themselves,” Lari opined, adding that the government should also focus on providing people with solar panels. Lari was of the view that giving people loans would be a safeguard against corruption and the public exchequer would not be burdened due to heavy borrowing.

Khalid Sheikh, the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the

housing company set up by the Sindh government to construct the proposed houses for flood affectees, when asked why cheaper alternatives were not considered, replied, “there was a proposal for cheap prefabricated houses which was considered but they were an impractical choice due to the local terrain.” Sheikh further informed that as per preliminary estimates nearly 1.5 million houses would have to be built. “So far this number includes houses that have been partially damaged as well. However, a survey regarding the total number of houses damaged is still ongoing” Sheikh told The Express Tribune.