600,000 houses being built in quake-hit areas: Project will be completed by June: Erra
By Iftikhar A. Khan
ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: Chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) Altaf M. Saleem said on Monday the rural housing programme in quake-hit areas, which once appeared to be an uphill task, was all set to be completed by June this year.
Inaugurating a two-day national conference on engineering work in the earthquake-affected areas, he said that construction of 600,000 seismically-safe housing units, scattered over an area of 30,000 sq km, in one of the most difficult terrains of the world and that too under a totally new concept of construction by any standards, was a challenging task, but Erra took the initiative and made history.
He said: “This only became possible due to exemplary cooperation, meticulous planning and its efficient and effective implementation by a dedicated and devoted team attached with the programme, who applied themselves wholeheartedly to translate the government’s vision of ‘Build Back Better’ into reality.”
He said: “Our partnership with international organisations, the Pakistan Army and the civil society, especially the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), vouches for the fact that we all stand united against a common cause of meeting daunting challenges by an unprecedented calamity.”
Mr Saleem said that Erra did not impose its decisions on the affected population, rather it respected local culture, traditions and techniques.
He said that Erra tailored the indigenous techniques according to modern engineering practices which greatly enhanced their suitability and effectiveness.
He said that after completion 98 per cent of the rural houses would be ‘pakka houses’ as compared to 17 per cent ‘pakka houses’ before the earthquake.
He said that Erra had endeavoured to find economic solutions without compromising on the quality of work.
Recalling various issues that cropped up during the reconstruction process due to rigorous inspection standards, he said the discipline and patience exercised by the PPAF and other partners for compliance of Erra’s reconstruction guidelines in the NWFP and AJK were highly commendable.
About the conference, the chairman said that Erra and PPAF had jointly organised the event to reach common understanding on issues as well as strategise on how to facilitate beneficiaries who still do not fall under compliance category in connection with reconstruction of their houses.
He hoped the conference would help in reaching a common understanding as to what retrofitting guidelines should be used as inspection standards.
CEO PPAF Kamal Hyat said that they were mandated to reconstruct safe housing units in the 34 worst-affected union councils of the NWFP and AJK as per Erra guidelines, and added that all-out efforts were being made to ensure compliance with these guidelines.
