By The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Monday that a $554 million financing package, including new and reallocated funds, had been approved to support recovery and reconstruction efforts in Pakistan following the aftermath of devastating floods and to strengthen the country’s disaster and climate resilience.
“The financing, which includes a $475 million loan and a $3 million technical assistance grant from the ADB, as well as a $5 million grant from the Japanese government, will support the restoration of irrigation, drainage, flood risk management, on-farm water management, and transportation infrastructure in the flood-affected provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh,” according to a press release.
“The ADB’s Emergency Flood Assistance Project will also include climate and disaster resilience measures in the infrastructure design.”
“In addition, ADB has repurposed $71 million from existing loans to help the government’s flood-response activities,” it said.
The floods, according to ADB Central and West Asia Director General Yevgeniy Zhukov, were a “devastating reminder” of Pakistan’s severe vulnerability to climate change.
Zhukov said, “This project will help to rebuild critical infrastructure in affected areas and restore rural livelihoods.”
According to the ADB, Pakistan had severe heatwaves from April to June, followed by disastrous floods.
According to a post-disaster needs assessment undertaken by the government and development partners, including ADB, overall damage and losses were projected to be more than $30 billion, with recovery and reconstruction requirements assessed to be $16.3 billion.
“The loan will reconstruct about 400km of roads; about 85 km of the N-5, the country’s busiest national highway; and about 30 bridges.
It will also help to restore and upgrade irrigation and drainage structures including canals and on-farm water facilities to restore livelihoods, and strengthen flood risk management structures to mitigate future risks to agricultural land, communities, and assets,” the press release said.
According to ADB Principal Transport Specialist Zheng Wu, individuals are projected to fall into poverty as a result of the floods, while food insecurity will also rise.
“This project will offer critical help to rebuild agricultural and other essential infrastructure to enable socio-economic recovery from floods in close collaboration with the government and other development partners,” he added.
The $5 million project, funded by the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, will assist staple crop farming in Balochistan by providing at least 60,000 farm households with higher quality, certified rice seeds for greater productivity across 54,000 hectares of land.
The money will also help women’s agricultural livelihoods by providing farm equipment.
The $3 million technical assistance award will help with project implementation and the planning of the next flood risk management investment.
