MANSEHRA, Oct 5: Around 70 per cent of the buildings destroyed by the Oct 2005 in Mansehra district have been reconstructed until now, according to official statistics.
However, reconstruction of the health and education sector structures is 58 per cent and 54 per cent respectively, said the sector wise reconstruction portfolio (SWRP) issued by the district reconstruction unit.
According to the reconstruction portfolio, 2,705 buildings belonging to 10 sectors were destroyed by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake and 1,893 of them have been rebuilt until now.
On the sixth anniversary of the tragedy last year, reconstruction of 1,594 earthquake-hit structures was completed.
According to SWRP, 1,221 school and college buildings were destroyed in the district and 591 were rebuilt, while in environment sector, the 2005 earthquake destroyed 194 schemes and 87 of them (45 per cent) have been rehabilitated until now.
In governance sector, 112 buildings were destroyed and reconstruction of 82 (73 per cent) has been completed, while in health sector, 43 facilities, including DHQ hospital in Mansehra, were destroyed and 25 of them (58 per cent) has been rebuilt yet.In social protection, two schemes were made part of the reconstruction strategy but work on them has yet to get underway.
As for transport or road sector, 57 schemes were destroyed by the earthquake but only 35 of them (61 per cent) have been rehabilitated.
In water and sanitation sector, 791 schemes were made part of the reconstruction strategy and after seven years, work on 781 (99 per cent) has been completed so far.
In livelihood sector, 280 buildings and schemes were destroyed and reconstruction/rehabilitation of 221 (79 per cent) has been completed until now.
In medical rehabilitation, two schemes were destroyed by the earthquake and both of them have been rebuilt.
In power sector, the earthquake destroyed three schemes and work on only one of them (33 per cent) has been completed.
Meanwhile, the fate of the New Balakot City, a Rs13.2 billion housing project inaugurated by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007 for earthquake survivors from Balakot in Mansehra, is in doldrums as landowners have yet to vacate the land despite being paid for it by the government.
When contacted, Provincial Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority director general Kamran Zab Khan said:
“We have paid Rs1.41 billion of the total of Rs1.5 billion to landowners but despite this, they were not willing to vacate the land delaying completion of the project.”
He said work on the remaining projects, which had yet to be completed, would begun soon after more funds were made available to the authority. “Supply of funds is in pipeline,” he said.