ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) has said that the process of reconstruction in the areas of AJK and NWFP affected by the Oct 8, 2005, earthquake was moving ahead at a satisfactory pace.

Addressing a Press conference here on Tuesday, Erra deputy chairman Lt Gen Sajjad Akram said if at all there was any delay in implementation, it was because of respective governments as Erra’s role was confined only to planning and facilitation.

Giving a detailed account of on the progress made in various sectors, he said that the owner-driven housing sector of Erra had made considerable progress and completed 330,166 housing units while 101,465 houses were in various stages of completion. He said that at least Rs61.51 billion had been disbursed so far in the rural housing sector. Besides, he said, owners of 101,091 partially destroyed houses had been paid Rs5.1 billion.

In rural housing, 504,997 people had been trained in social mobilisation discipline, while 256,519 had been given technical training. In the urban housing sector, Rs2.92 billion had been disbursed and the sector recorded a tremendous progress of 99.90 per cent.

He said master plans of all cities had been finalised and project directors for all city development projects had been appointed. Contractors were being pre-qualified on “design and build basis”. He said 30 per cent work on the Balakot City Development Project was complete.

Rejecting criticism on Erra’s alleged lethargic performance, he said the first year passed in relief and rehabilitation activities in an area of the size of Switzerland and with a population equal to that of New Zealand. He said it was after this period that a comprehensive strategy was formulated envisaging intervention in 12 sectors.

He said critics would be justified if Erra failed to complete 12,000 projects by April, 2011.

He said that in the health sector, 307 units had been built along 137 project facilities. He said these activities had been instrumental in improving the overall health infrastructure, increased confidence in government facilities and improvement in health standards in the area.

In the education sector, he said 5344 institutions were to be reconstructed, and 4052 were in various stages of completion.

In the water and sanitation sector, of the 4080 destroyed schemes, he said, 3593 had been undertaken, bringing a remarkable change in the lives of the affected population. About the governance sector, he said 702 official buildings were in various stages of completion, which would have a broad impact on the welfare of the people.

In the transport sector, he said, 233 projects had been undertaken, including 13 bridges, which were scheduled to be completed by 2010.

Giving details of the community livelihood rehabilitation plans, he said

Rs0.75 million for each village and Rs75 million for each union council had been allocated for small projects like rehabilitation of small irrigation channels, agricultural and livestock training and inputs for farmer vocational trainings. This, he said, had resulted in general prosperity in these areas.

About the Social Protection sector, the Erra deputy chairman said that with a financial input of Rs3 billion, substitute land and cost of construction for the virtually landless had been provided.

In this sector, he said, a major intervention by Erra had been the conduct of Targeted Vulnerability Survey, which would enable a more pragmatic and meaningful approach towards devising policies.

Genl Akram said that in the environment sector, 21 major projects had been completed, including a rubble recycling plant in Muzaffarabad.

Talking about internally displaced people living in camps, he said now only two camps were inhabited by 44 extremely vulnerable families.

He said that Erra, under an austerity drive, had started the process of weeding out incompetent and surplus staff. After every three months, formulation of probation reports has been made mandatory. Along with this, special evaluation reports regarding already recruited staff were being made.

He said the use of helicopters had been reduced bringing the expenditure under this head down from Rs3.88 million during the initial six months to Rs1.2 million.