ISLAMABAD: A $554 million financing package, including new and reallocated funds, has been approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help Pakistan recover from devastating floods and improve its disaster and climate resilience.
The restoration of irrigation, drainage, flood risk management, on-farm water management, and transport infrastructure in the flood-affected provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh will be aided by the funding, which includes a $475 million loan from the ADB and a $3 million technical assistance grant from the Government of Japan.
Climate and disaster resilience measures will also be incorporated into the infrastructure design for the ADB’s Emergency Flood Assistance Project. To support the government’s flood response efforts, the lender has repurposed an additional $71 million from existing loans.
According to Yevgeniy Zhukov, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia, “this year’s floods, which affected 33 million people and brought enormous damage to infrastructure and agriculture, are a devastating reminder of Pakistan’s acute vulnerability to climate change.” Rural livelihoods will be restored and critical infrastructure will be rebuilt in affected areas with the assistance of this project.
Pakistan experienced its worst flooding in a century, with glacial lakes burst, rivers breaking their banks, flash flooding, and landslides, following unprecedented heatwaves from April to June 2022.
The government and development partners, including the ADB, conducted a post-disaster needs assessment that estimated total damages and losses at more than $30 billion and recovery and reconstruction requirements at $16.3 billion.
The loan will rebuild approximately 400 kilometers of roads; about 85 kilometers of the N-5, the busiest national highway in the country; and roughly thirty bridges
In addition, it will aid in the restoration and improvement of irrigation and drainage structures, such as canals and on-farm water facilities, in order to restore livelihoods and strengthen flood risk management structures in order to lessen potential threats to agricultural land, communities, and assets in the future.
According to ADB Principal Transport Specialist Zheng Wu, “more people are expected to fall into poverty as a result of the floods, and the population without access to food is likely to double to more than 14 million people in the most affected districts.”
“This project will provide crucial support to restore agriculture and other priority infrastructure to support socioeconomic recovery from floods in close coordination with the government and other development partners.”
The $5 million grant, which was made possible by the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, will help cultivate staple crops in Balochistan. It will also provide at least 60,000 farm families with higher-quality, certified rice seeds, which will increase productivity on 54,000 hectares of land.
The award will likewise uphold ladies’ occupations in agribusiness by giving cultivating hardware.
The project’s implementation and the preparation of a subsequent investment in flood risk management will both receive assistance from the $3 million technical assistance grant.
The ADB approved a $1.5 billion loan in October to support the government’s efforts to mitigate the negative effects of cumulative external shocks by providing social protection, food security, and employment. Due to the fact that some of the beneficiaries of the program are also flood victims, the program plays a role in the flood response.
