PESHAWAR: The federal government and international donor agencies showing disregard to the homeless and economically deprived families from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have launched development projects that don’t serve the people’s basic needs.

In background interviews senior functionaries dealing with the recovery and rehabilitation activities in Fata expressed reservations about the priorities set for implementing projects sponsored by the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF).

Officials said that the major objective of MDTF was restoration of damaged infrastructure and disrupted services in Fata besides provision of basic amenities to affected communities.

However, the project implementing agencies of MDTF, according to the official sources, have been focusing more on areas that do not directly cater to the affected communities’ basic needs, including housing, water sanitation and economic rehabilitation.

“People are desperate for getting tents and other basic amenities in Fata while money received under the MDTF is being spent on holding seminars abroad and provision of digital equipment for offices in Peshawar,” remarked one officer.

The sources said that over 30,000 displaced persons had been sent back to Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in October this year without providing them with tents and material required for construction of temporary shelters.

The government had also committed to give Rs25,000 in cash to each family after returning to their homes. The promise remains unfulfilled.

“They have been sent back without tents to their ramshackle houses in Tirah where temperature remains below freezing point,” said one knowledgeable official.

Officials said that the UNHCR could not provide tents to returnees of Tirah owing to shortage of funds. According to reports, the UNHCR provided plastic sheets and blankets to 6,000 returnees. They said that shortage of funds was one of the obstacles in the return programme of IDPs from South Waziristan Agency.

The UNHCR confirmed that it could not provide tents due to inadequate resources.

A senior government functionary while portraying bleak picture of the situation in militancy-affected areas of Fata said that the World Bank and government should have focused on fulfilling basic requirements of the people rather than spending funds on other activities.

“Provision of houses should be priority number one to protect families from harsh weather instead of holding workshops and other activities,” he observed, adding that majority of the IDPs needed cash Govt, donors’ projects not fulfilling needs of Fata assistance to rebuild their houses.

MDTF was established in 2010 for the recovery and rehabilitation of the crises-affected areas in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. Donor countries had pledged to pump $159.6 million into the MDTF currently administered by the World Bank. Officials said that donors had released $155.8 million to the fund in which Fata’s share was $51.5 million.

Under the MDTF $6.50 million had been allocated for the economic revitalisation programme to financially assist small and medium enterprises whose businesses had been affected due to militancy in Fata. Similarly, some $12 million have been allocated for conducting baseline surveys for community development in Bajaur, Mohmand and South Waziristan, providing solar lamps to 600 households, distributing wheat seeds among 225 farmers, and providing training to 60 agriculturists.

Moreover, 50-kilometre roads in Bajaur and Orakzai agencies are slated to be constructed at a cost of $16 million, $7 million has been allocated for Tribal Areas Rural to Urban Centres Conversion Initiative project, and $8.75 million specified for governance support projects in Fata and KP.

Interestingly, the project was a brainchild of Fata Development Authority, but after a bureaucratic wrangle the Fata Secretariat took over it. Besides, officers and members of civil society from Fata have participated in workshops in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Similarly, FDA has executed solarisation programme in tribal agencies, but the secretariat is also distributing solar lamps in an apparent duplication of the programme.