ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Tuesday directed the Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (ERRA) to focus on projects which have been completed over 50pc , to ease problems of the earthquake-affected people.
He gave the directions at a meeting here to review the progress of projects being undertaken by ERRA and was briefed on development activities on construction and rehabilitation of highways, roads, schools, health and municipal schemes.
Chairman ERRA Hamid Yar Hiraj and Deputy Chairman ERRA Lt Gen Sardar Mehmood Ali Khan gave a presentation here at the PM House.
The meeting was apprised that over Rs 10 billion allocated during the current financial year have already been released. It was decided that the government would continue to allocate funds through the PSDP and foreign loans for the benefit of earthquake affected region of AJK and KPK.
The Prime Minister formed a committee headed by Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance to review the proposals for urban development including the new Balakot City through coordination between KPK Government, ERRA and the federal government departments.
Other members of the Committee include the Prime Minister of AJK, Chief Minister KPK, Chairman ERRA, Deputy Chairman ERRA and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission.
The Deputy Chairman ERRA said the organisation has completed over 600,000 seismically safer houses and provision of water and sanitation facilities to the affected communities.
The Deputy Chairman said rehabilitation of 63,655 disabled persons was also complete including the Community Livelihood Rehabilitation programme that has benefitted 1022 villages.
The meeting was informed that the ongoing projects that constitute 26pc of the total projects would be completed by December 2012.
The Deputy Chairman said futuristic programmes of poverty alleviation and rehabilitation were underway focusing on the trends of transitory poverty.
The representatives of the AJK, KPK and GB expressed satisfaction that ERRA had evolved into a big organization equipped with requisite expertise to deal with natural calamities, which would cut losses both in terms of life and property substantively.
The ERRA representatives requested funds of Rs 6 billion from the Ministry of Finance to provide educational facilities to 350,000 children who were still without proper schools.
It was also requested that an amount of Rs 700 million be released to the AJK Government to settle land acquisition as delayed release had been hampering development of urban projects.
The KPK government promised to make available encumbrances free land, as delay and cost of construction were adversely affecting ERRA's strategic projects.
The Finance Minister congratulated the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman ERRA for good work, adding that the federal government was with ERRA to help complete the projects.
The Deputy Chairman said ERRA's rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts have been acknowledged both by the UK Accreditation Services through ISO 9001 Certification and the conferment of prestigious UN Sasa Kana Award, 2011, most transparent and efficient government organization.
Prime Minister of AJK Ch Abdul Majeed, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister of State for Professional and Technical Training Sardar Shahjahan Yousaf, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Qasim Shah, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeem ul Haq, Provincial Minister for Industries KPK Ahmad Hussain Shah, Secretary EAD, Secretary P&D Division, Secretary Kashmir Affairs and GB, Chief Secretary AJK, Additional Chief Secretary KPK, Muhammad Nawaz Allai MNA, Mehboobullah Jan MNA and other senior officers were also present in the Briefing.
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