CM seeks ADB help for flood-hit Sindh

Requests for Rs1.3tr funding to reconstruct damaged houses

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday put up a request for an almost Rs1.4 trillion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the reconstruction of damaged houses in the flood-hit areas. ADB Central and West Asia Director General, Eugenue Zhukov, however, said that for now, the bank was forwarding Rs62.5 billion to the province.

CM in his meeting with Eugenue said that the province needs more funds for rebuilding houses destroyed in the cataclysmic deluge. World Bank has pledged Rs110 billion against a requirement of Rs1.5 trillion for the construction of flood-affected houses, therefore the ADB Asian bank may consider meeting the shortfall of the funds, Shah said according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

The CM told the ADB Central and West Asia chief that the climate change victims of Sindh have lost around 1.8 million houses during the heavy downpour and floods. He added that the initial estimates showed that around Rs1.5 trillion were required to construct 1.8 million houses.

The CM said that the World Bank has pledged Rs110 billion ($500 million) against a total requirement of Rs1.5 trillion. "We shall be thankful if ADB meets the short fall of Rs1.39 trillion so that all the homeless people could be provided with houses," he said.

The visiting ADB DG told the chief minister that they have committed $475 million (Rs103.3 billion) with the federal government, of which $300 million (Rs65.23 billion) would be the share of the provincial government for the construction of damaged infrastructure. Out of Rs103.3 billion, around Rs21.745 billion would be given to NHA for the reconstruction of the Motorway, from Karachi to Hyderabad.

Shah told Eugenue that his country in general and the province of Sindh, in particular, has suffered heavy losses due to climate change in which his country's total contribution in emissions has been recorded at 0.8 per cent.

He added that the international community and the donor agencies should support us in the rehabilitation of the affected people and infrastructure. Eugenue said that his bank would give a project to mitigate the effects of climate change in Sindh.