K-P flood response plan approved

Climate resilient infrastructure fund to be established

PESHAWAR:

In order to rehabilitate the damaged infrastructure and compensate for the losses caused by recent flash floods in different districts of the province, the provincial government has prepared ‘Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Flood Response Plan 2022’ under which rehabilitation and compensation activities will be carried out in a phase-wise manner.

Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Mahmood Khan has also approved the establishment of a Climate Resilient Infrastructure Fund which will, in addition to providing financial assistance, also provide advisory to infrastructure developers.

The decision was taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of CM Mahmood Khan about the flood response plan.

Regarding the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Fund, Khan ordered working out modalities and submitting formal proposals at the earliest for approval by the competent forum.

The chief minister said that through the said fund, climate resilient infrastructure will be constructed which is part of the long term planning of the provincial government for prevention against natural disasters.

The meeting was briefed in detail about different aspects of the plan, damages caused by floods and steps taken for infrastructure rehabilitation.

He directed stern monitoring of rehabilitation related activities, adding that a three-tier setup has been put in place to ensure efficient use of funds.

The monitoring and accountability will be carried out at district, departmental and provincial level by the monitoring and evaluation cell to ensure optimum and effective utilization of resources to meet targets and achieve early outcomes.

The meeting was informed that losses incurred across the province by the flash floods are estimated at Rs120.2 billion including damages of Rs77.7 billion to the public sector and losses of Rs42.5 billion to the private sector.

As far as sector-wise losses are concerned, damages in the irrigation sector are estimated at Rs22.3 billion, the roads sector at Rs19.4 billion, the energy and power sector at Rs11.5 billion, the elementary and secondary education sector at Rs8.3 billion, the local government sector at Rs6.7 billion and the public health engineering sector at Rs4.8 billion.

The participants were informed that Rs245 million will be disbursed among the legal heirs of people who lost their lives in recent floods while Rs75 million will be disbursed among the people injured in flood-induced incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2022.