|
|
|
| November 16, 2005 | Wednesday | Shawwal 13, 1426 |
President calls for generous help, assures transparency
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday appealed to the world community, international financial institutions and donors to participate in the November 19 international donors’ conference in a big way to financially support the country in rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged areas.
Speaking to Islamabad-based envoys at the president’s house, he presented an assessment of the damage and called for generous assistance both in cash and kind, while assuring transparency in the disbursement of the funds.
However, he said financial contribution would be preferable as it would give flexibility in carrying out large-scale rebuilding for quake survivors in the mountainous area.
“We will welcome assistance in kind such as sponsorship of houses, schools, hospitals or even villages but financial assistance will help us build houses and infrastructure on equal basis for all,” he said ahead of the conference the country is hosting to muster sustained international support in the massive reconstruction phase.
He said the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations and Pakistan were jointly working out the cost of reconstruction.
President Musharraf stressed that the entire process from collection of funds to their disbursement would be transparent and the finances would be accounted for through audit.
In this context, he said, committees comprising elected representatives, local government representatives and army and revenue officials would be engaged in the process of disbursement of funds to prevent any chance of misappropriation.
He informed the envoys that a database was being compiled for determining the number of houses, health facilities and educational institutions etc in each affected village, tehsil and district.
On raising various kinds of infrastructure all over the quake zone, he said it would be need-based as the government wanted to improve the quality of life in the affected region and not just restore the old facilities.
In this regard, he said, a colossal task was rebuilding roads and bridges destroyed in the vast mountainous regions of the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides, the government would prioritize provision of safe drinking water, electricity and gas to the people, President Musharraf said.
He said the provision of gas would help stem deforestation in the areas as people would be able to use the inexpensive fuel to meet their energy requirements.
On rehabilitation, the president said the government would also focus on restoring lives of vulnerable segments –- including orphaned children and amputees — and lodge them at a large facility near the capital, where they would have access to healthcare, education and other support.
He said rehabilitation centres, to be known as “Aashiana,” would house the people left destitute, including widows, in the country’s worst natural disaster.
President Musharraf also spoke of engaging the country’s youth and professionals in the reconstruction phase through a national volunteer movement. The volunteers would join the army in assisting the people to restart their lives, he said.—APP
|
|
|
|
