Seeking assistance: Govt to stage donors’ conference for flood relief

Departments told to engage UNDP, WB and ADB for damage need assessments.

ISLAMABAD:

The government has decided to host a donors’ conference to secure the assistance of international lending agencies for rehabilitation and reconstruction in parts of the country devastated by the recent monsoon floods.

The decision to seek help – likely as loans or grants – from the UN, the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was taken on Tuesday during the third meeting to review the damages caused by floods and subsequent rescue and relief work. It came despite the government’s inability to fully utilise loans obtained from ADB earlier to reconstruct roads damaged by previous floods in the country.

During the meeting, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) shared the initial estimates of losses with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a finance ministry handout said. The estimates were the result of a multi-sector initial rapid assessment (MIRA) carried out in five districts, namely Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Chiniot, Jhang, and Multan.

According to MIRA findings, around 1,547km or 38% of roads were inundated by floodwater. An estimated 43% of the food stock in flooded areas has also been lost, the findings revealed.



Crops have also been affected by the flood on a large scale, but the exact nature and extent of the damage will be clear after floodwaters recede, NDMA said. It had earlier said that 2.4 million acres of farmland were affected by the floods.

Based on the findings, Dar directed the Economic Affairs Division and Foreign Office to prepare a report on the initial assessment of damages by floods and hold a donors conference to seek assistance for relief efforts.

The finance minister also directed concerned government agencies to carry out the Recovery Need Assessment (RNA) with the help of the UN Development Programme and a damage need assessment (DNA) with assistance from WB and ADB.

This is the third time Pakistan has decided to seek assistance from multilateral agencies to carry out such studies. WB and ADB had been engaged to assess damages and the cost of reconstruction after the floods of 2010 and 2012. While it helped the government win fresh credit lines from WB and ADB, no other international lenders came forward to help Pakistan. The loans ADB did extend could not be fully utilised due to weak administration and lingering governance issues.

According to the finance ministry handout, Dar said the government would try to help the flood-stricken people in any way possible.

Various proposals to help flood victims, like the restoration of community infrastructure through a cash for work programme, compensation for cattle head losses, the restoration of livelihoods and economic activities through micro finance credit schemes will be considered for all affected areas, he said.

The federal and provincial governments will also compensate victims for damaged houses with cash after a detailed assessment, the finance minister added.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2014.