Bilawal pledges rebuilding two million houses destroyed by floods

KARACHI (92 News) - Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has promised that the rehabilitation process in the flood affected areas will be completed in next three years and the victims will also be given land ownership rights along with financial assistance for reconstructing their two million houses.

He has also urged all international organizations, including the IMF, to ensure the protection of the victims of the worst floods in history as a result of climate change.

Addressing a conference “Resilient Sindh: From Pledges to Reconstruction” in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sindh, the PPP chairman said that the 2022 flood was like “the apocalypse  before the apocalypse”, such a flood has never occurred here in known history.

About the post-flood situation, he pointed out that one out of every seven citizens were affected by flood disasters in Pakistan. "Crops standing on five million acres of agricultural land were washed away by floods, the recent natural disaster has broken the back of agriculture, which is the backbone of the country’s economy. The livelihood of farmers and cultivators of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, South Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been ruined,” he added.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that he wanted that the flood victims to be given land ownership rights along with help on building houses, adding that with this initiative, the flood victims will become owners of an asset overnight.  

He demanded a targeted subsidy for flood affected areas, adding that this relief should be for agriculture, energy and fertilizers. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, representatives of donor organizations and others were also present on the occasion.