PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to contract the Frontier Works Organisation to rebuild Chitral’s three major roads washed away by the recent flash floods.

After signing a memorandum of understanding, the government will give the FWO the first payment of Rs200 million for the rehabilitation of the three roads to re-connect Chitral city with Booni, Garam Chashma and Bamburate valleys on priority.

The information was disclosed by provincial information minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani during a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday.

Accompanied by information director Shoaibuddin and PDMA officials, the minister said death of seven people and injury of four in Chitral floods had been confirmed so far.

He said the provincial and federal governments as well as Pakistan Army were coordinating relief work in the district.

Ghani said according to initial estimates, restoration of bridges and roads in the calamity-hit district would require Rs1 billion and that of the irrigation schemes Rs440 million to be provided by the provincial government.

Minister says complete rehabilitation of district in six months

Sharing details about the damages caused by flooding in Chitral, he said 165 houses were destroyed and 47 damaged partially.

The minister said of the three destroyed arteries, rehabilitation of Chitral-Booni Road had begun.

He said flash floods had washed away eight kilometers portion of Chitral-Garam Chashma Road, which would take some time due to acquisition of land for the purpose.

Ghani said machinery had been transported for Chitral-Bamburate Road, while pavement had been restored.

He said three reinforced cement concrete bridges were partially damaged in the flooding, while 10 suspension bridges were destroyed.

“Of the 13 irrigation channels, nine were damaged and four of them have been restored. However, there is no access to those located in Bamburate valley,” he said.

The minister said the main problem faced by local residents was unavailability of drinking water as 61 public health water schemes were damaged and 10 of them had been restored.

He added that pipes had been supplied for other schemes.

Ghani said around 400 private irrigation channels were washed away and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had promised support for their rehabilitation.

He said the flooding destroyed standing crops on 1200 acres of land and destroyed 5.7 percent of fruit orchards in the district.

The minister said the government had announced establishment of Rescue Services 1122 at four points in the region with headquarters in Chitral city to rescue people in case of emergency.

He said over 74,000 bags of wheat were there to meet the needs of flood victims, while 1,700 bundles of non-food items had been distributed to the calamity-hit people.

Ghani said destruction of communication system was the main hurdle to relief activities in far-flung areas of Chitral and that relief goods were provided to the calamity victims by helicopters only.

He appreciated security forces for extending full cooperation in rescue and relief operations in Chitral.

The minister said directions had been issued to the district administration to collect complete data of flood devastation for the compensation of affected families.

He said during a recent visit to Chitral, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced Rs500 million for Chitral rehabilitation but the money had yet to be released.

Ghani said the complete rehabilitation of Chitral would take six months, while temporary arrangements would take one month.

He said restoration of electricity supply was urgently required and therefore, the provincial government had asked the federal government to expedite work for the purpose.

The minister said medicines had been stocked, while arrangements had been made for the supply of clean drinking water.

He said all tourists had been rescued from Chitral.

Ghani said non-governmental organisations had approached the government but they had yet to begin relief work due to inaccessibility to flood-hit areas. He said the government would set up a modern university in Chitral to the benefit of local population as announced by the PTI chairman.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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