Turkey to provide $150 million for Sindh livestock

Turkish delegation says govt would cooperate in rehabilitation process in SiNdh.

KARACHI: The Turkish government will provide financial assistance to Pakistan worth $150 million to protect and increase the productivity of livestock in Sindh. This was stated by Turkey’s Minister for Housing Mustafa Demir who visited the CM house along with his six-member delegation.

Sindh cabinet ministers briefed the delegation about the damage caused by the flood and stated that they envisaged a development strategy regarding the rehabilitation of flood-hit people. The Turkish delegation said their government would cooperate in rehabilitation process in Sindh, including the reconstruction of houses, repairs and renovation of school buildings, health centres, repairs of roads and bridges.

The Turkish housing minister said that Ankara would fully support the provision of agricultural machinery, repairs of embankments and for the improvement of the irrigation system.

He added that technical assistance will be provided to drain out the floodwater from agricultural lands.

Earlier, Adviser to Chief Minister on Planning and Development Kaisar Bengali briefed the delegation of Turkey about the flood damage and the post-flood development strategy of the Sindh government.

He informed the delegation that there is an estimated damage of about Rs464 billion due to the flood in the province. The adviser said that 11,000 villages and 20 towns were affected.

Regarding the strategy for consolidation of villages and rural housing, Bengali said that it has been proposed to settle residents of 300,000 damaged houses by providing five, seven and 10 marlas, for which 10,500 acres of land will be required.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.