Pakistan received $483.96mn support to fight COVID-19; Senate body told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives was informed on Thursday that the total quantum of committed donors financing for COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan was USD483.96 million against the total requirement of USD 595 million indicated in Pakistan Preparedness Response Plan (PPRP).

The meeting of the committee was held here under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Asad Ashraf.

The meeting was briefed on the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan regarding complete details of allocated funds, equipment and its utilization.

It was informed that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided endeavours to fight against COVID-19 in the form of a concessional loan facility amounting USD200 million.

This assistance came in the backdrop of the request of government of Pakistan to boost its response mechanism.

The soft loan for social protection for poor and vulnerable had been extended under the emergency assistance for fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting was further informed that this loan was distributed under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the lead focal agency for COVID-19 response, informed the committee that the prime minister's allocation was Rs. 25.3 billion; expenditures amounted to Rs. 13.496 billion.

Other donor organizations were ADB and IHITC. Major supplies distributed nationwide included face masks, N-95 type masks, protective suits, goggles, face shields, latex/nitrile/ surgical gloves, ventilators, portable x-ray machines, portable x-ray machines, PCR laboratory machines, etcetera.

The basic challenges faced by the agency included lack of domestic manufacturing capacity, demand and supply gap, hoarding of essential supplies and movement of goods and services hampered due to lockdown.

Senator Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, inquired the level of preparedness of the agency and stressed the need to ramp it up to deal with any contingencies in the future.

Committee Chairman Senator Dr Asad Ashraf asserted that rapid response was an imperative to saving lives.

It was also asserted that hands-on training of staff serving ICUs was essential especially of those that dealt with ventilators and respirators.

Discussing the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II (RBOD) Project, the committee was informed that this project began in 2001, and since then had been in the lurch.

Senator Gianchand said in previous meetings it was discussed that the project would be handled by the Frontier Works Organization.

He said later it was revealed that certain technical issues were cause of delay.

The frequent change of project directors was another major issue that stalled the project.

The committee was apprised that a third party audit was being conducted to ascertain the cause of delay.

Senator Engr Rukhsana Zuberi stressed the need to involve the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).

She added that a system must be put in place to allow project directors to evaluate and monitor projects on a regular basis.

The committee decided that the PEC must be engaged along with other stakeholders to assess the status of the project in detail and report back to the committee on the issues and solutions to expedite the work towards completion.

The meeting was attended by senators Hidayat Ullah, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, and Gianchand.