ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a $120 million scheme for the early recovery phase at the Economic Affairs Division on Monday but the agency needs $1 billion to rebuild lives and get people back on the ground.
As the water recedes and the emergency phase moves to the recovery phase in most parts of the country, the UNDP launched the early recovery programme which will be ongoing for a year. “We need a billion for recovery and this is a part of the need. The timeframe allocated of a year for early recovery is most likely to be go beyond that,” Toshihiro Tanaka, UNDP country director told The Express Tribune.
According to UNDP, the agricultural and cattle-grazing lands are covered with silt and farm equipment and storage facilities have been swept away. The programme aims to revive livelihoods across 39 of the most affected districts by offering grants to 2,500 affected small and home-based businesses. The UNDP is also providing agricultural goods, including seeds and fertilisers, and creating temporary work to repair roads, water facilities and protection walls that have been destroyed.
“Jobs need to be created through cash-for-work schemes so that affected communities start to become self-reliant. Early recovery is crucial for the country’s long-term development,” said Tanaka.
Some 70 per cent of roads and bridges in the flooded areas were washed away, along with millions of homes and livelihoods. The programme will support efforts to restore basic and critical community infrastructure and services by creating 2,000 infrastructure projects, providing 2,000 solar-powered water pumps and building 5,000 disaster-proof houses.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2010.
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