PESHAWAR: Insurgency-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being rehabilitated and reconstructed as the law and order situation becomes relatively conducive.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contributed over $142 million to this effort.
“We want to build bridges to decrease Federally Administrative Tribal Areas’ (FATA) isolation,” USAID Regional Director ED Burglar said while discussing USAID’s involvement in KP with reporters. Provincial Authority for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (PARRSA) Director General Shakeel Qadar said the pace of progress was slow but it was worth the wait.
Under December 2009 agreement, the USAID provided $36 million for the reconstruction of damaged schools, hospitals and other infrastructure in civic sector, Burglar said.
Of which $20 million was spent on education, $12 million on health, $3 million on drinking water and sanitation and $1 million was given to departments, Qadar added. A hundred schools, of which 44 had already been completed, are to be reconstructed with work still in progress on the remaining 56, Qadar informed, adding that 66 health units will also be reconstructed.
USAID will also contribute to the revival of economic activities such as tourism, fisheries and livestock in the Malakand region.
PEPSICO has also agreed to install a potato chips unit in Swat to support local farmers, he said, adding fisheries will also be developed in the region.
Destroyed and damaged houses will be repaired with an aid worth $65 million, Burglar said, adding that $21 million will be spent on promoting agricultural activities. Twenty thousand houses have been destroyed in Swat and other parts of Malakand, Qadar said, adding that 6000 households had been paid compensation.
The government has decided to pay Rs 400,000 and Rs 160,000 for completely and partially destroyed houses.
Of $400 million set aside for improving infrastructure, $135 million was being used to construct roads and for providing electricity to South Waziristan, Burglar said, expressing satisfaction over the transparency in the use of funds.
