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Third anniversary of Oct 8 quake : Work on 50% reconstruction projects yet to be launched

By Daud Khattak

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (PERRA) has started work on 50 per cent reconstruction schemes while work on the remaining projects is still to be launched on the completion of the third anniversary of the deadly earthquake that hit parts of NWFP and Azad Kashmir on October 08, 2005.

Officials say work on the remaining 50 per cent schemes would be started in the coming five to six months and the rehabilitation and reconstruction work will be completed by December 2010.

Earlier, the timeframe given for completion of rehabilitation and reconstruction work was December 2008 which was extended to June 2009 with another extension till December 2010.

However, PERRA officials say the delay was because of the lengthy procedures and sluggishness on part of the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK), said to be the premier engineering consultancy organisation.

Five NWFP districts including Abbottabad, Batagram, Kohistan, Mansehra and Shangla were affected by the October 8, 2005 earthquake killing 73,000 people in both NWFP and Azad Kashmir and injuring another 70,000 and leaving 2.5 million people displaced.

Besides NWFP, three districts of Azad Kashmir including Poonch, Muzaffarabad and Bagh were the worst affected areas. According to the preliminary damage and need assessment report jointly prepared by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB), the earthquake caused 73 per cent damage in Azad Kashmir and 32 per cent in NWFP.

The total damage was estimated at Rs 104.4 billion which included Rs 37.2 billion losses to private housing, Rs 14 billion to education sector, Rs 17.8 billion to transport and Rs 12.9 billion to agriculture and livestock.

Talking to Daily Times, PERRA Director General Nasir Azam said that Rs 7.7 billion had been distributed among those whose houses were destroyed or damaged during the earthquake.

However, he said, many of those who received the assistance did not repair their houses and migrated to other areas. He said PERRA had to pay them Rs 175,000 as compensation in installments. However, those who failed to start work on their houses would not get the remaining amount.

He said PERRA had to reconstruct a total of 2,940 educational units. Of them, work on 168 had been completed while 1,058 were under construction. Work on the remaining units would be launched in the coming few months, he added.

Asked about the sluggishness on part of ERRA, the DG said it was because people of the area were not giving land for the reconstruction. Secondly, NESPAK was not fully capable of carrying forward such a massive project, he added.

In health sector, he said, 309 schemes were identified for reconstruction. Of those, work on 74 has been completed, while another 170 are under construction. At told of 164 road construction schemes were identified, of which work on 103 has been initiated while work on 21 has been completed, he added.

Figures revealed that 15 projects have been completed in Abbottabad, 172 in Batagram, 23 in Kohistan, 952 in Mansehra and 39 in Shangla. Most of those projects included education, health, livelihood, housing and water and sanitation.

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