Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah discussed the devastation caused by floods in Sindh in his conversation with the World Bank Country Director Najy Behhassine.
The funds will be obtained through various bank efforts for the benefit of the affected people’s relief and rehabilitation. Clearance for $92 million in aid was successfully obtained by the chief minister.
He also argued in favour of repairing the irrigation and drainage system, which would cost around $1 billion and for which the World Bank team would assess the damage and provide a proposal to the board for approval.
In addition to Administrator KMC Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Chairman SRB Asif Memon, and concerned secretaries, the Sindh government was present at the meeting. The World Bank team, which consisted of Manager of Operations Gailius Draugelis, Sector Leader Abdul Razak, Programme Leader Tobias, and Senior Specialist Ahsan Tehsin, was connected by video link.
CM Murad remarked that Sindh saw record-breaking rainfall during the monsoon season of July–August 2022. We can estimate the intensity of the flooding thanks to the fact that it rained more than 308% more than typical in July and 784% more than usual in August.
He said regretfully, all 30 districts in the province have been significantly impacted by the latest rains, which have been more devastating.
According to preliminary estimates, the chief minister asserted, the province will lose more over Rs860 billion. He went on to note that after a careful and meticulous review of the damages across the whole province, it was predicted that the real losses were substantially more than the first estimates.
He asserted that 3,171,726 acres of agricultural land, 11,734 animals, and over 1.5 million homes had all been seriously damaged. He continued by saying that his administration needed money to restore, rejuvenate, and rescue the devastated communities.
Another suggestion made by CM Murad was the redistribution of $57 million from World Bank-funded projects, including $27 million from CLICK, $8 million from agriculture programmes, and Rs22 billion from PDMA.
He went on to explain that an extra $35 million, made up of $25 million from KWSSIP and $10 million from the Select (Education) project, may be re-appropriated for restoration work.
The World Bank country director supported the chief minister’s proposal and said that the bank would swiftly reappropriate the monies in addition to providing advice.
Informing the audience of the damage to residences, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi announced that 1.5 million dwellings will be rebuilt to help people who lost their homes get back on their feet. The creation of jobs, according to the chief minister, will arise from the reconstruction of 1.5 million dwellings.
