The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $554 million funding package for Pakistan’s post-flood rehabilitation.
According to the details, the financial package would contain new and reallocated funding to help the country’s restoration and recovery efforts following the disastrous floods and increase climate and disaster resilience.
Additionally, the financing will include a $475 million loan, a $3 million technical assistance grant from ADB, and a $5 million grant from the Japanese government.
Furthermore, the funding would help flood risk management, transportation infrastructure rehabilitation in flood-affected provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan, irrigation, on-farm water management, and drainage.
The ADB’s Emergency Flood Assistance Project, for which the bank has agreed to fund an extra $71 million, would incorporate climate and disaster resilience elements into the design infrastructure.
According to ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov, this initiative would aid in rehabilitating infrastructure in afflicted areas and restore rural livelihoods.
The loan will be used to rebuild 400 kilometers of roads, 85 kilometers of the National Highway (N-5), and 30 bridges. The irrigation and drainage structures will be rebuilt and enhanced.
It will also reduce future hazards to communities, assets, and agricultural land.
Furthermore, the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific will offer a $5 million grant to boost staple crop development in Balochistan, supplying 60,000 farm households with higher quality, certified rice seeds to enhance productivity across 54,000 hectares.
The funds would also help women’s agricultural livelihoods by providing them with farming equipment.
