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Saturday, October 16, 2010
Pakistan wants sustained funding for reconstruction* Qureshi says government actively considering raising money through one-time flood tax
BRUSSELS: Pakistan on Friday urged a continuous flow of funds for recovery and rehabilitation efforts in flood-affected areas as the challenges the country faced were time-critical.
Addressing the third ministerial meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the floods had destroyed about 3.6 million hectares of rich farmland and over one-third of infrastructure.
He said Pakistan’s economy, already under tremendous counter-terrorism pressure, was now confronting additional daunting challenges.
“We need to rehabilitate over 20 million flood victims, and rebuild close to two million houses, thousands of bridges, schools, hospitals and roads and vast agricultural lands, mercilessly ripped apart by the calamity. This will require several billion dollars,” he added. Qureshi informed the meeting of the establishment of the National Oversight Disaster Management Council to ensure transparency and accountability in utilising flood assistance. “Let there be no doubt that every cent received will be accounted for,” Qureshi said. He said extensive mobilisation of domestic resources was also going on and the people of Pakistan had contributed generously to the relief activities. The government was disbursing cash grants from its own resources to partially compensate the flood victims, he added.
Flood tax: He said the government was actively considering raising money through one-time flood tax, adding that a decision would be taken soon, following political consultations. The FM said the sacrifices of Pakistan in the ongoing fight against terrorism were second to none. “We have lost thousands of brave soldiers and civilians, besides, according to conservative estimates, the economy suffering an accumulative loss of around $50 billion.” app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk