IRIN
PAKISTAN: Quake reconstruction delayed by land problems - experts
9 November 2006


ISLAMABAD, 9 November (IRIN) - The reconstruction of health and 
educational infrastructure in Pakistan's northern earthquake-affected 
zone is being delayed partly due to problems in allocating land to build 
new facilities, an international aid agency has said.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had been scheduled to 
start the construction of some 100 primary schools and 13 Basic Health 
Units (BHUs) in the Battagram district of Pakistan's North West Frontier 
Province (NWFP) in October.

"Due to delays in allocating land to construct these structures, we have 
not been able to start rebuilding so far, hence slowing down the pace of 
reconstruction and increasing the timeline for completion of the 
projects," Yasuyuki Uehara, a JICA project adviser told IRIN in the 
Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Thursday.

Immediately after a devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck northern 
Pakistan in October last year, Japan provided some US $85 million 
towards emergency relief programmes. The disaster killed more than 
75,000 people and about 3.5 million were rendered homeless.

The earthquake inflicted extensive damage on public and private 
infrastructure across an area of 30,000 sq km. A total of over 7,600 
educational institutions and more than 570 health facilities were 
destroyed or damaged beyond use.

Japan has been helping Pakistan in rebuilding the damaged public 
infrastructure in quake-affected areas through providing technical 
assistance in raising quake-resistant infrastructure.

Besides land problems, a combination of poor road conditions, difficult 
mountainous terrain, problems in moving heavy machinery and a shortage 
of appropriate transport have been slowing the post-quake reconstruction 
process, the JICA expert explained.

However, officials at Pakistan's Earthquake Reconstruction and 
Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) denied any undue delay in 
reconstruction.

"JICA has already started the reconstruction of six schools in Battagram 
district," an official working with ERRA's educational programmes said. 
He added that the other projects were in an advanced stage of planning 
and on schedule.

United Nations agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) say 
reconstruction of permanent health facilities in the quake zone still 
faces many challenges.

"The reconstruction of transitional facilities has been more or less as 
per schedule, but for the permanent structure there have been a 
combination of factors slowing down the process ranging from assistance 
pledges to resolving the land problems. One cannot generalise as to what 
is causing delays," said Dr Rayana Bouhaka, head of the WHO's earthquake 
emergency health programme.

According to the WHO, a total of 82 prefabricated transitional health 
units have so far been built under the early recovery plan.

JICA has recently completed a transitional hospital in Battagram. While 
"the construction of the permanent structure has also been started, 
which will be completed in three years," Uehara said.

Tokyo is assisting in other projects in the earthquake zone. Japanese 
engineering experts are assisting Pakistan's National Highway Authority 
(NHA) in reconstructing four damaged bridges and a culvert on the Jhelum 
Valley road in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.


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