Pakistan's flood aid 'unspent and mismanaged'
Mismanagement and misuse of cash are hampering relief efforts for
Pakistan's flood victims with nearly 60 million dollars in a Prime
Minister's fund still unspent, officials say.
Catastrophic monsoon rains that swept north to south in July and
August affected 21 million people, consumed entire villages, wiped out
agricultural land and destroyed industries in the country's worst ever
natural disaster.
Officials say efforts to rebuild 1.6 million homes are being
compromised by infighting between federal and provincial
authorities. Photo by AFP |
Foreign donors have stumped up just half of a UN appeal target of
1.93 billion dollars, sparking fears for 6.8 million who need emergency
shelter as winter sets in, while farmland could remain flooded for
another six months.
But officials say efforts to rebuild 1.6 million homes are being
compromised by infighting between federal and provincial authorities,
and express amazement that a 58.5 million dollar prime minister's fund
remains entirely unspent.
National recovery
Shabbir Anwar, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,
said plans for the money were still being finalized as part of a
national recovery plan.
"The Government has prepared a national strategy for rehabilitation
and reconstruction. The details are being finalized by the financial
division," he told AFP.
But a top Pakistani official said 'malaise' at the heart of
Government was to blame for inaction, as thousands of families remain
camped out on roadsides in makeshift tents.
"Once a decision is taken at the highest level it must be done -but
it doesn't get done," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Huge swaths of Sindh province in the south remain underwater. From
the air all that can be seen in the worst-affected parts of Dadu
province are the tips of trees jutting above inland lakes.
Just outside Gul Mohammad Chandio village, families languish under
tents overlooking fields submerged in water, clamouring for the relief
that they say has failed to arrive in the months since the disaster.
Villagers returning from relief camps by donkey found homes still
flooded or destroyed. A chair balanced on a rubber ring was the only way
to ferry people across a flooded street.
"We're very worried about our income because our land is under water.
Nobody has helped us," said 45-year-old Mohammad Khan, who returned to
his home with seven children to find a pile of rubble.
"Please rebuild our homes. We're worried, we don't have anything."
UN officials have complained about a lack of international financial
support for Pakistan, blaming that partly on the government's poor
reputation for mismanagement and corruption.
The World Bank has put the overall figure for flood recovery at 9.7
billion dollars.
But despite crippling debts, the federal government insists on doling
out the money itself to rebuild schools and hospitals, and has asked
donors to contribute only to a cash fund, rather than offer
infrastructure assistance.
Under a cash compensation scheme, 1.6 million of the worst-off
families should each receive more than 85,450 rupees to rebuild their
homes using an electronic card system.
The United States has been quick to endorse the fund, with US envoy
Richard Holbrooke telling a development conference in Islamabad that its
aid could be fast-tracked into the scheme.
But the World Bank has refused to back the scheme until the fund is
made more transparent and accountable, and there have been widespread
reports of problems with the cash card system, said Oxfam media officer
Amil Khan.
"We have reports of people not knowing how to use the cash cards,
machines not having any cash, not having any power. There have been
issues of access...it's a significant issue," said Khan.
Head of the National Disaster Management Authority that coordinates
flood relief, General Nadeem Ahmed, said he has "strong reservations"
over the plan because there is no system in place to oversee the home
rebuilding.
Earthquake-prone
Of the 1.6 million homes earmarked for construction, he said 400,000
needed to be built elsewhere to avoid flood plains and fault lines in
the earthquake-prone country. "People are making houses and schools in
the river beds," said Ahmed. "We want to make sure that whatever
reconstruction we do must make use of the opportunity to build back
better."
USAID officials met Pakistan's National Accountability Board last
week to discuss allegations of misuse of American money by aid
organizations, a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity. The
Dawn |