ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $400 million concessional loan to aid the reconstruction of homes and community infrastructure in southern Sindh province of Pakistan, which was severely affected by the 2022 floods.
The Sindh Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project aims to repair flood-damaged homes and infrastructure while supporting livelihood recovery. The project will also focus on enhancing the resilience of communities against climate change-related natural hazards, an ADB press release stated on Friday.
This initiative is a crucial element of ADB’s broader response to Pakistan’s flood crisis and is part of its commitment to provide a total of $1.5 billion in assistance from 2023 to 2025 to expedite the country’s flood recovery efforts.
“This project will aid in rebuilding homes and communities, restoring livelihoods, and reviving basic services in Sindh, the province hardest hit by the 2022 floods,” stated Yevgeniy Zhukov, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia.
Zhukov further noted, “It forms a part of ADB’s extensive support aimed at helping Pakistan recover from the disaster that impacted 33 million people and caused widespread damage to houses and infrastructure across the country.”
The 2022 floods inflicted approximately 83% of the total housing damage in Sindh, with around 2.1 million houses either destroyed or damaged. Two years later, many displaced individuals still live in temporary shelters lacking essential services such as water, sanitation, and electricity.
The project will provide conditional cash grants for reconstructing 250,000 houses with designs that are resilient to multiple hazards and environmentally responsive. It will also facilitate the construction of community infrastructure such as drinking water facilities, sanitation systems, covered drainage, and renewable energy solutions for 100,000 households in about 1,000 flood-damaged villages in Sindh.
Additionally, the project will offer conditional cash grants for livestock, agriculture, small enterprises, and e-commerce.
“ADB’s support will not only aid Pakistan in rebuilding more effectively but will also foster community-led climate resilience and disaster risk management strategies to better prepare for future hazards,” said Srinivas Sampath, ADB Director for Water and Urban Development.
“We are closely coordinating with other development partners to align with the government’s recovery and reconstruction priorities,” Sampath added.
The project aligns with the government’s resilient rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery strategy (4RF) and will adopt an integrated approach to ensure that investments across sectors are mutually reinforcing.
Furthermore, a $500,000 technical assistance grant will be provided to enhance the government’s operational capabilities in procurement, safeguard compliance, and technical and financial management.
