KARACHI: Chinese Con-sul General in Karachi Li Bijian on Friday presented a cheque for RMB500,000 for flood-affected people to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The chief minister in his meeting with the Chinese diplomat said that the heavy rains and floods had damaged 3.8 million houses for which the provincial government had negotiated a loan of $500 million to reconstruct the houses, but the number was so huge that more help and assistance was needed to house all the displaced people.

The diplomat told the chief minister that a team of their experts was scheduled to visit the flood-affected areas of the Sukkur division to survey the collapsed houses and then select the areas to reconstruct the houses.

The CM thanked the Chinese government and the people for helping the government in the rehabilitation of the affected people.

He said that well-reputed people from the private sector had been inducted into the company constituted for the construction of the houses collapsed during heavy rains so that transparency could be ensured.

“The funds raised or taken as loans from the lending agencies for the construction of the houses of the flood-affected people would be utilised transparently and its audit would be conducted by a well-reputed firm,” he added.

Mr Shah invited philanthropists, the international community, friendly countries and multinational companies to come over and select a locality or a village for the construction of the collapsed houses and undertake the work from the contractors or construction company of their choice and the provincial government would extend them all kind of support.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2022