Financial crunch delays reconstruction in quake-hit areas

Officials say 60% reconstruction work completed.

MIRPUR:

Seven years on, the governments of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have been unable to complete reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in the areas devastated by the 2005 apocalyptic earthquake due to a financial crunch.

“Only 60 per cent of reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the quake-hit AJK zone, comprising five districts, has been completed thus far,” revealed a senior official of the AJK State Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (SERA).

The devastated AJK districts are Muzaffarabad, Neelam Valley, Bagh, Rawalakot and Sudhanoti.

The revelation negates the tall claims of government officials about rehabilitation efforts. Soon after the deadly tremor, the Pakistan government spelled out a massive reconstruction and rehabilitation plan worth billions of rupees for the affected areas.

However, the in charge of SERA, Sardar Muhammad Raheem, told The Express Tribune that the remaining 40 per cent rehabilitation projects would be completed by the end of 2014. He added that their focus was on restoring socio-economic conditions of the survivors.

According to the SERA and the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), the total cost of the rehabilitation plan was a little over Rs68billion. So far, they have spent Rs28billion, and need another Rs40 billion to complete around 3,300 new and ongoing projects in the region.

“A total of 7,984 rehabilitation projects were designed soon after the earthquake hit – 4,694 have been completed so far and 2,100 are under way. The remaining 1,200 projects cannot be initiated due to financial constraints,” said Raheem. “Despite this, the government has set a two-year deadline for their completion,” he added.

According to Raheem, a sum of Rs16 billion is needed immediately in order to continue the rehabilitation process over the next one year.

All hopes are not lost though, says Raheem. He pointed out that despite the debilitating financial crisis, 350 development projects in the quake-hit areas were completed this year. These exclude rehabilitation projects funded by NGOs and foreign donors, all of which have been completed by now.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2012.