Sindh announces cash assistant for building 0.7m houses in flood-hit areas

KARACHI: The Sindh government has announced cash assistance for building 700,000 houses in flood-affected areas of the province. As per details, the provincial government with the assistance of the World Bank will give Rs300,000 each to the owners of fully destroyed houses and Rs50,000 for the partially destroyed in recent catastrophic floods. During the cabinet meeting, several ministers questioned how will the government ensure that the money is given to deserving people. They suggested that instead of providing cash the government should build these houses for the flood-affected families. In response to this suggestion, the ministers were told that currently, the Sindh government doesn't have the capacity to build houses from its capacity. To ensure transparency, the cash will be disbursed in installments after carrying out proper verification and meeting the legal requirements. Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah said it will be a huge challenge for the government to disburse the amount and make sure that the amount is spent in the right place but the administration is ready for the uphill task. Furthermore, a committee was also constituted for people housing society. The World Health Organisation's Country Representative in Pakistan Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala said the WHO is working on a plan to assist in future preparedness for having effective healthcare systems. He said the recent devastating floods have caused serious damage to health service delivery in the affected areas which has resulted in various health risks.