Displaced persons: 325 two-room houses to be built in S Waziristan

Project expected to be complete by year-end.

ISLAMABAD:

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the UN Refugee Agency on Monday launched a project to construct 325 two-room houses for the people of South Waziristan (SWA). An official speaking about the project on Monday said that these houses will be for whose dwellings were damaged during the military operation in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The houses will be constructed for some of the most vulnerable returnees who are unable to rebuild their damaged homes.

With financial support from Saudi Arabia, some 1,025 houses will be built in total, worth $8 million in SouthWaziristan (SW), Kurram, Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The project is expected to be complete by the end of this year.

The agreement for the purpose was signed in a ceremony that was attended by Chief Engineer Abdullah M Al-Shoaibi, Technical Department of the Saudi Fund for Development, Mohammad Nafa Al-Madani the Deputy Ambassador at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt. Gen. (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and UNHCR’s Representative in Pakistan, Neill Wright.



Speaking at the occasion, Wright said, “People in the tribal areas have been severely affected by security operations and they need help to rebuild and bring their life back to normal.”

Since the start of security operations in 2008, over 45,000 people have been displaced from South Warizistan.

The first phase of facilitated voluntary return to SWA began in December 2010, since then some 11,899 displaced families  have returned in nine phases whilst around 36,000 families remain displaced, residing mainly in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2013.