KARACHI: A preliminary damage and needs assessment report on the Oct 8 earthquake prepared by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has put the figure of direct damages at Rs135 billion and indirect losses at Rs34 billion.
These include: damages to the social infrastructure (private housing, health, education, environment and public administration); physical infrastructure (transport, water supply and sanitation, irrigation, energy, power and fuel); and the economic sector (agriculture and livestock and industry and services).
The report notes: “The cost of reconstruction of lost assets and the restoration of services is estimated to be Rs208.1 billion ($3.5 billion).” It adds: “A substantial portion of these funds is on account of housing reconstruction, which will cost an estimated Rs92 billion ($1.6 billion).”
The contractors, sub-contractors, builders and most importantly the people who would award contracts for reconstruction can all see a big money in the venture. It is not to suggest that they would disgrace themselves by profiteering from tragedy. But all the same, most of the above would gladly lend a helping hand in the immense reconstruction work and wouldn’t mind if they were to receive some returns for the effort.
NGOs are already there. Pictures and video clippings of death and destruction and the participation of that particular NGO in cheering up the orphans and setting up tent age schools (that the children may not miss their studies), must have moved the most hardened donor hearts. For several subsequent years, the organizations would not have to fret about budgets.
Singers, dancers, the pious and the politicians have pushed their vocations to the sidelines for the time being. There are reports of new construction and contracting firms sprouting from Islamabad to the North. One big contract is in the pocket and who would want to work anymore? This again is not to suggest that the love for money has overcome the great desire of such NGOs, contractors and individuals to put in their effort to do something for the poor people of the earthquake hit region.
But one wonders if the inhabitants of those poor mountainous terrains were self-sufficient until Oct 8, needing no such help from those who are now falling over each other in doing the greatest good for the greatest number. That could be by seeking a contract for rebuilding infrastructure project, roads, bridges or hospitals and schools.
In granting the contracts for reconstruction, it is still unclear what criteria would be observed by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). The lowest bidder would perhaps get the job, but one must remember that the lowest bidder is not always the best bidder. Here is one example. When England planned to build a tunnel under the English Channel, they asked for bids which ran into billions of dollars. One firm asked for just $40,000. The board called in the proprietor of the firm and asked: “How do you propose to build the tunnel at such a pittance?” The man replied coolly: “I pick up a shovel and start digging from England, my friend grabs a shovel and starts digging from France. We dig until we meet and you have a tunnel”. The chairman was bewildered, but still managed to mumble: “And what if you never meet?” The man replied: “Then you have two tunnels!”
KARACHI: A preliminary damage and needs assessment report on the Oct 8 earthquake prepared by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has put the figure of direct damages at Rs135 billion and indirect losses at Rs34 billion.
