Having missed several deadlines, the World Bank funded Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (J&TFRP) needs to be completed without any further delay.
The project was approved in June 2015 for the reconstruction of the public sector infrastructure, which was damaged in September 2014 devastating floods. Besides loss of lives, massive damage was caused to the private and public sector infrastructure in the floods.
Residential houses, other private buildings, the government buildings, bridges and roads suffered extensive damage. The hospitals, schools and colleges were also badly hit. Other properties also suffered huge losses.
The Joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) Mission of the World Bank during its visit in February 2015 estimated the total damages and loss caused by floods at about Rs 2,11,975 million.
Subsequently, J&TFRP was launched for restoring the critical infrastructure and designing it with upgraded resilient features, and having contingency planning for future floods and earthquakes. There have been some delays in the completion of the project. While a number of works were completed, several others could not be completed.
According to reports, after missing multiple deadlines, the World Bank had set December 31, 2023 as the final deadline. While granting final extension, the World Bank observed that the project had shown progress over the last two-and-a-half years.
It, in this connection, referred to improvement in the pace of public infrastructure construction, completing livelihood support activities, implementing Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) activities to boost healthcare services for Covid response, and augmenting disaster preparedness capabilities.
However, the World Bank stressed for the completion of the project within the final deadline. But despite the expiry of the final deadline line, some works are still incomplete. The new Chief Executive Officer, Jammu and Kashmir Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar, during a recent meeting told the concerned officers that no further delays will be tolerated.
She directed them to rigorously identify and remove the impediments hindering the progress of various vital works being executed under the project, and submit the progress report after every 20 days. It is being hoped that the work is speedily done to complete the project now without any further delay.