FWO to rebuild three flood-damaged roads in Chitral

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has decided to give the contracts of three main roads in Chitral washed away by the recent floods to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and an agreement to this effect has been reached between Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and the FWO authorities.
The government would provide Rs 200 million for the reconstruction of the roads, said provincial minister for information Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani while addressing a press conference here on Friday.
The roads include Chitral-Bamburet Road, Chitral-Garam Chashma Road and Chitral-Booni Road that were badly affected by the floods disconnecting all parts of the remote district from one another.
The minister said the infrastructure in the flood-hit areas of the district has vanished. “The electricity system has been destroyed and power supply is suspended. There is scarcity of potable water and food items,” he said.
He said that speedy efforts were on to assess the losses. “But most of the areas are inaccessible due to which difficulties were being faced to carry out the assessment, rescue and relief activities,” he added.
Mushtaq Ghani said the district administration, the provincial departments’ officials, personnel of Pakistan Army and Chitral Scouts were busy round the clock in the rescue and relief operation. The secretaries of all the concerned departments including the additional chief secretary were present in Chitral to supervise the rescue and relief operation, he said.
He said Rs1 billion was required for reconstruction of the damaged roads and Rs 440 million for the restoration of irrigation channels in Chitral. He said the chief minister would visit the district again after a week after having pledged to provide whatever amount is required for rehabilitation and provision of food and other relief items to the affectees.
Counting the losses, Mushtaq Ghani informed that the deaths of seven people have been confirmed. He said 165 houses have been destroyed and 47 were partially damaged. “Thirteen bridges have been washed away by the floodwater, three bridges were partially damaged, crops and orchards on 1,200 acre of land have been affected and nine out of the total 13 irrigation schemes were damaged but four have already been rehabilitated,” he said. He added that 61 water supply schemes of the public health department have been damaged and 10 have already been restored.
About the relief and rehabilitation activities, he said that reconstruction work on the Chitral-Booni Road has been started and 18 kilometers part of the Chitral-Garam Chashma Road has been cleared. Eight kilometers of the road has been washed away by the floods and it would take time to reconstruct it, he added.
He said that huge quantity of food and non-food items have been distributed in different areas of the district while ration in stock is enough for one month.