Sindh rural poverty at 75.5%: Bilawal

PPP chairman hopes post-flood reconstruction will create employment, generate incomes

KARACHI:

Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that with the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, including houses, roads, and the irrigation system, employment opportunities would be generated to reduce poverty which has increased in the wake of devastating rains and floods in the province.

"I want the Sindh government to speed up construction works that would serve as a source of employment also," he said while presiding over a high-level meeting at the CM House on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, his cabinet members, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, provincial secretaries, and others.

Sindh is in dire need of $7.86 billion to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure in different sectors, he said, adding that damage assessment and preliminary estimates showed that 55% of the total housing sector worth Rs570.167 billion has been damaged.

Bilawal said that the Covid pandemic followed by the 2022 floods have badly affected the provincial economy. The poverty ratio has been recorded at 43% with 75.5% in the rural areas, he added. He urged the provincial government to finalize all the official procedures and mechanisms and start reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure in all sectors.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2022.