MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed has said the federal government should release funds to the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) so that development work can continue without interruptions.

The AJK prime minister was speaking at a meeting with Erra Chairman Major General Asghar Nawaz, other senior Erra officials and government employees on Thursday.

The meeting was told that Erra had initiated 7,876 construction and rehabilitation projects in AJK after the earthquake of 2005 and that they would cost Rs202 million to complete. Of these, 5,287 have already been completed, work on 1,661 projects is still underway and 928 projects have not been initiated as yet.

Appreciating the work done by Erra to reconstruct the infrastructure damaged by one of the worst earthquakes, the AJK prime minister said the federal government should release funds to Erra for the timely completion of pending projects.

A handout issued by the AJK prime minister’s office says that 67 pc of work on ongoing projects has been completed and that a shortage of funds was causing delays in the work.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2016