ADB, govt sign deal to rebuild flood-hit infrastructure

ISLAMABAD, April 14: The Asian Development Bank and the government signed on Thursday an agreement involving an investment of $650 million in reconstruction of vital infrastructure damaged by the last year's floods. The financial assistance under the Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project (FERP) will be for rebuilding damaged national and provincial road networks, irrigation systems and flood protection structures. According to details announced by the ADB, $600 million of FERP resources will come from ordinary capital resources and $50 million from the bank's concessional Asian Development Fund. The investment is in line with the Flood Damage and Needs Assessment prepared by the ADB and World Bank in November last year. It put the overall damage caused by the floods at around $10 billion — half of it in agriculture. About 10 per cent of total cultivable land, over 1.5 million livestock and 10 million poultry perished in the floods. The ADB will also provide a grant of $4 million for capacity building technical assistance to strengthen implementation and oversight of the project. The acting economic affairs secretary and ADB's country director Rune Stroem signed the agreement. "Rebuilding roads, irrigation and flood protection structures will help resume economic activities, secure livelihood of farmers and protect all other facilities from future disasters. The investment is designed not only to rebuild what has been damaged but also to build it to a better standard," Rune Stroem said. The project will involve construction of 793km of national highways and bridges and 800km of provincial road networks to multiple hazards resistant standards. The project will improve 1.5 million hectare of agricultural land by restoring and strengthening flood protection embankment and rehabilitating canals and other allied infrastructure. The investment will re-establish inter-regional connectivity, access to markets and boost the reconstruction and livelihood restoration processes in the affected areas. "We look forward to work closely with the government and provincial agencies for a speedy and effective implementation of the project ensuring earliest recovery for millions of affected people," the ADB director said. As a part of its overall post-flood support, the ADB has increased trade finance facility to Pakistan by $500 million, providing extra cover to emergency imports and exports during the reconstruction period.