Despite assurance from the prime minister on the floor of National Assembly, the members strongly protested on Monday over non-completion of damaged infrastructure in different provinces especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa due to devastating floods last year.
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on a question said the government had done nothing for restoration of infrastructure, damaged due to floods last year and the situation in most parts of KP is not satisfactory.
Responding to a question, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said it is the top priority of the government to complete the damaged infrastructure. "We are trying our level best to complete the damaged infrastructure projects especially in education, health and canal sector as soon as possible. The flood was unprecedented as described by international agencies and early completion of damaged infrastructure is going on priority basis," he added.
Gilani said the provincial governments had prepared PC-1 for the reconstruction projects, hence funds were released to them for their execution, adding that work on the projects is in progress, which is being monitored on a regular basis.
Sherpao demanded an inquiry into the ongoing projects, saying that nothing had been done to repair damaged roads and bridges due to floods in Swat and some areas of his constituency, which is a matter of concern.
The members belonging to Sindh also complained of slow pace of work on the reconstruction projects initiated by the government in the aftermath of last years floods which played havoc in the province.
Syed Naveed Qamar, federal minister for water and power said the work on the projects is in full swing, while some of the projects have been completed. "The works on all the projects is going on quite satisfactorily...[and] we will present the list of finished projects and those in the pipeline in KP and others...," he added.
In a written reply about year-wise amount of funds received by the government from foreign countries and NGOs, the house was told that National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) received approx. $7.7 million and Rs7.0 million during last three years.
The House was informed that the Economic Affairs Division - a coordinating forum for receiving grants and loans on behalf of government, had received $215.6 million grant while $450.6 million loans during the budgetary year 2010-11. During the financial year 2011-12 till date, foreign assistance received for floods stands at $118.0 million, which consisted of $41.1 million grant and $76.9 million loan.
In a written reply about the total amount of loan borrowed by the government from national and foreign banks from October 1, 2011 till date, minister finance revenue, planning and development told the House that Rs538.3 billion were borrowed, of which public debt instruments worth Rs391 billion were issued as apart of exercise of consolidation of outstanding power sector debt as well as pending unpaid subsidy on commodity operations in November 2011. The payable amount of interest on domestic is Rs67.3 billion, it added.