In its meeting held earlier this month, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) recommended several development allocations related to Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration and approval.

KP Food Security Support Project shall be entirely funded by Asian Development Bank loans amounting to $88 million and $5m from Japan. Sindh School Rehabilitation Project shall have an ADB loan of $270m, accounting for about 90 per cent of the project cost outlay.

Many more development projects were reviewed and approved in different sectors and locations. Per the working norms, a sizable portion of foreign component allocations shall be utilised to procure consultancy services and other technical components.

Several questions arise from this approach. With a possible stagnation of GDP, a whopping foreign debt burden of around $127 billion and a sluggish economy, is it wise to borrow for routine rehabilitation and re-development works that can surely be managed by innovative utilisation of domestic development funds?

Innovative utilisation of domestic development funds will diminish the need to borrow for routine re-development works

The responses could be entirely obvious. Our development allocation procedures, especially related to rehabilitation and re-development, need an objective assessment. They deem a critical review and bold decisions to take the country out of the economic quagmire that it has plunged for the past three decades.

While it is most appropriate to focus and speed up the re-development of flood-hit settlements and social infrastructure, responses from the affected areas inform us that there are many concerns that have not been taken into account while proceeding with rehabilitation tasks.

In order to obtain the best value from the investment as well as contribute the same for a holistic social benefit of the affected people, a few considerations must be taken into account. Given the current grave financial situation of the country, it will be apposite that utmost care must be taken while negotiating loans and national funds for various projects.

The technical review of the flood-hit sites is vital. One needs a carefully devised exercise to examine the thresholds where the schools, agricultural infrastructure and other related facilities can be allowed to develop.

Agencies such as Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are undertaking initiatives to support housing reconstruction in Sindh. However, the local communities — particularly survivors of the rains and floods — have cast doubts about the merit of decisions. These doubts were further strengthened by certain swift measures for expropriation of land.

Communities believe that the choice of location for the housing and social infrastructure development is biased and derived to benefit a few favourites only. Local people argue that their voices are not heard in making rehabilitation decisions. In many cases, elected municipal representatives are not consulted.

The solution to this state of affairs can be arrived is through an effective mechanism of conflict resolution. First, the technical thresholds must be firmed up. Second, the documentation of affectees and beneficiaries must be done in an objective manner. Third, a consultation forum should be created to discuss the matters threadbare in an informed manner.

The technocrats must present their viewpoints and also devise options to accommodate the concerns raised by the local communities. The local political leadership and representatives of interest groups may be involved in the physical manifestation of rehabilitation plans and related details. It may be noted that without building up a consensus, the rehabilitation and re-development efforts may not succeed.

There are many groups of volunteers, non-governmental organisations and philanthropic organisations that are active in the flood-affected locations, including Sindh, Baluchistan and KP. As a sizable period has ensued since the occurrence of the floods and rains, much of the work is now aimed at long-term rehabilitation.

From the design and development of individual houses and schools to the re-building of social and physical infrastructure, some of this work in a spread-out context has positively impacted the lives of people. To sustain and upscale this work, few preliminary steps are needed.

Qualitative and quantitative assessment of rehabilitation works, plans of respective organisations towards further expansion and correlation of the same with the planning options drawn by the government are some mentions.

Thereafter, these developments can be suitably ameliorated in planning exercises according to the outcome of technical and social evaluation. It must be remembered that all social investments so far done by different actors are important and need a safeguard.

The context of any rehabilitation programme for the affected areas shall have to expand to a regional scale. This necessity entails evolving an open-ended regional planning framework across broad objectives.

Promotion of settlements in seismically safe zones, increase in accessibility, rescue and disaster management planning, and an overall approach to enhance economic activity are a few vital concerns. As nature has given this opportunity to re-plan settlements, the corresponding technical foresight and social wisdom should be utilised to the optimum.

There are some existing strengths that must be built around. Some agencies — such as rural support programmes — were well known for their efficiency and relatively potent capacity to manage their jurisdiction. This potential must be fully utilised.

The development allocation can serve as a means of inviting investments from local philanthropists and even private investors. Once a mechanism of transparency and effective monitoring is put in place, the trust of stakeholders shall be substantially enhanced.

In any case, the government alone cannot finance all the necessary heads of rehabilitation finance. Finally, institutional strengthening must be kept as a priority. Planning for calamity-hit regions is a continuous activity. To undertake this responsibility, local institutions must be created and bolstered to respond to changing contextual conditions effectively.

The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, November 13th, 2023