KARACHI: Chief Secretary Sindh Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput said Tuesday that the flood affectees will start receiving money from February 8 for the construction of houses.
This he said in a workshop organized by Sindh People’s Housing Foundation (SPHF) in Karachi regarding construction of houses for flood Affectees. World Bank Senior Social Development Specialist Kamran Akbar, CEO Sindh People’s Housing Foundation Khalid Mehmood Sheikh, various NGOs, Implementation Partners of Sindh Government, experts, Students of COMSATS Lahore and architects have participated in the workshop.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sindh Chief Secretary Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput said that the Sindh government has created the Sindh People’s Housing Foundation, a Section 42 company to build houses for the flood Affectees, which has an independent board of directors.
He further said that the houses will be constructed in collaboration with implementation partners such as National Rural Support Program NRSP, Sindh Rural Support Organization NRSO, Thardeep Rural Development Program TRDP, SAFCO Support Foundation and HANDS. “This is not only a project to build houses but it will also lead to social upliftment of the people as the Sindh government will also provide people with the title documents of the land”. Said CS Sindh.
He further said that the survey has been completed and as per survey (2.058 million) houses have been partially or completely damaged by rains and floods in the province. He also informed the participants that the World Bank has committed $500 million for the housing project; the Sindh government is giving 250 million dollars while the federal government has also promised to provide 250 million dollars.
The Chief Secretary Sindh further said that a post Donors Conference will be held in Karachi on February 8, and a briefing about this project will be given during the post Donors Conference. It is hoped that donors will show interest in the housing project, he added that people will start getting money from February 8 for the construction of houses. “Such houses will be constructed as per multi-hazard resilient standards” he added.
Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput further said that 3 lakh rupees will be given for a completely damaged house in installments and 50 thousand rupees for partially damaged houses and the implementation partner will ensure the completion of the construction of the houses as per the design approved by the Sindh government. During the workshop, various NGOs and construction experts and architects presented models of low-cost houses.