Pakistan: Sindh to provide Rs300,000 to each flood-hit family to help rebuild homes
Some 1.7 million homes have been damaged due to rains and floods in the province
Karachi: The Sindh government has approved Rs 300,000 as a compensation package to each of family rendered homeless due to recent floods in the province to help them reconstruct their homes.
A meeting of the Sindh cabinet with Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in the chair, has approved Rs50 billion for the emergency financial assistance of the families displaced due to the calamity.
The owner of each of the damaged houses would initially be paid Rs50,000 for starting the reconstruction activity. The rest would be paid to the family when the construction of the house reaches the plinth level.
The cabinet also decided to involve reputed non-governmental organisations in the reconstruction activity to ensure transparency in the process.
The government estimates that some 1.7 million homes have been damaged due to rains and floods in the province and Rs160 billion will be required to complete the reconstruction project.
The World Bank has committed to providing Rs110 billion for the purpose. The government has formed a company to carry out the housing reconstruction project.
The government also approved a compensation package for the affected farmers whose standing crops were destroyed due to floods. Two million farmers will be benefitted from the package and each of them will receive a compensation of Rs5,000 for every acre of their damaged farmland.
The compensation will help the affected growers to procure fertilizer, seeds and make their agricultural land ready for the next crop. The government has provided Rs8.39 billion, while the federal government has allocated Rs4.7 billion for compensating the losses of farmers.
Sindh Information Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, said that Pakistan Army, National Disaster Management Authority, and civil society organisations, had been involved to survey the extent of damage with video documentation.
