PM says rehabilitation of flood-hit areas to be made successful model
\n ISLAMABAD
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said the world reposed trust in Pakistan and pledged worth over $9 billion in flood aid despite indiscriminate propaganda by the rivals \u2014 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
\nAddressing the media after a \u201chighly successful\u201d donors\u2019 conference in Geneva alongside his cabinet members, the premier said the government would continue to help the people affected by cataclysmic floods till their complete rehabilitation.
\n\u201cAt the conference, pledges worth $9.7 billion were announced for the Pakistan flood victims,\u201d the PM said, congratulating his federal ministers for the hard work they and their teams put in before this critical conference.
\n\u201cIslamic Development Bank promised $4.2 billion, World Bank $2 billion, Saudi Arab $1 billion, Asian Infrastructure Development Bank $1 billion, Asian Development Bank $500 million, USAID $100 million, China $100 million, Italy \u20ac23 million, Japan $77 million, Qatar $25 million, UK \u00a336 million, and France $10 million,\u201d the prime minister said.
\nThe premier said that the world reposed trust in Pakistan despite the worst propaganda against the government, crediting his team for the success.
\n\u201cThe ball is now in our court. We now have to transparently spend every single penny on the people\u2019s prosperity.\u201d
\nHe said the presence of the representatives of all the provinces at the conference sent the message to the world that \u201cwe are united\u201d.
\n\u201cThe global community showed confidence in the coalition government of Pakistan.\u201d
\nThe prime minister hailed Saudi Crown Prince Mohamad Bin Salman for his continuous assistance to Pakistan and generous support.
\n\u201cThe perception created by some people that the country is alone was busted as both the superpowers were standing right and left,\u201d he added.
\nWhen asked about the conditions of these funds pledges at the conference, the prime minister said IDB\u2019s terms will be soft.
\nSlamming the provincial governments for failing to handle the flour crisis, the prime minister said wheat stocks were enough to meet the demands of the country but the local authorities couldn\u2019t manage the situation.
\n\u201cWe were not sitting idle. This is a provincial matter and they should answer for this.\u201d
\nHe also rubbished the claim that the top functionaries of the provinces where the PTI is ruling were ignored by the PDM government.
\n\u201cSindh was the most affected province from the floods then comes Balochistan. Chief secretary was there to represent the provincial government.\u201d
\nHe said that there was no flood in Azad Jammu and Kashmir while Gilgit-Baltistan\u2019s Ghaddar area was affected, adding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Minster Taimur Jhagra was also present at the conference.
\nAbout the worsening law and order situation in KP, the prime minister said the National Security Committee (NSC) discussed the issue in detail.
\n\u201cTo restore peace in the country is the responsibility of federal and provincial government.\u201d
\nHe once again thanked the UN secretary-general for forcefully pleading the case of Pakistan at the Geneva conference.
\nAbout his upcoming visit to the UAE, Shehbaz Sharif said he is visiting the Gulf state tomorrow and expressed confidence that it will help further augment bilateral relations between the two countries.
\n90% pledges are project loans
\nIn response to a question, PM Shehbaz revealed that bilateral contributions announced at Geneva moot would be donations; however, all the pledges by multilateral donors were concessional loans.<\/p>\n
Without revealing the terms of these loans, the premier said \u201cwe expect the terms to be lenient\u201d, urging the journalists not to focus on which pledges were loans or grants as the aim was to help the flood victims.<\/p>\n
Endorsing his view, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar revealed initially the government had in-house decided to take a shot at half of the $16.3 billion at the donors\u2019 conference, while the rest was to be raised by Pakistan from homegrown resources.<\/p>\n
Pakistan succeeded in securing pledges worth more than the targeted nearly $8 billion from its development partners including World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Islamic Development Bank, friendly countries etc.<\/p>\n
Dar said that 90% of the pledges were project loans, which include commitments from the Islamic Development Bank, ADB, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank were project loans.<\/p>\n
He further clarified that he wasn\u2019t counting the Saudi pledge as the status of its $1 billion was unclear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not incorporating the pledge made by the Saudi Development Bank on purpose here because it is not clear whether their announcement of $1 billion pertains to programme lending or project loan,\u201d the finance minister said, adding that these pledges would materialise during next three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PM says rehabilitation of flood-hit areas to be made successful model ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said the world reposed trust in Pakistan and pledged worth over $9 billion in flood aid despite indiscriminate propaganda by the rivals \u2014 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Addressing the media after a \u201chighly successful\u201d donors\u2019 conference in Geneva alongside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-306854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n