News
Pakistan: IFAD to provide $ 26.4 mln as loans to earthquake survivors
Eight thousand earthquake surviving families would receive financial and technical support to rebuild their houses and buy livestock through a new project supported by a $26.4 million loan from the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The $29.6 million Project for the Restoration of Earthquake-Affected Communities and Households (REACH) will be financed almost entirely by the IFAD loan. The agreement for it was signed at the Fund's headquarters in Rome by its President Lennart Bage, and the Ambassador of Pakistan to Italy, Mirza Quamar Baig, private TV channel (Aaj) reported.
"There is an urgent need to follow the massive relief effort with major investments to rebuild poor people's livelihoods," said Lennart Bage.The project will focus on the areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and in the North-West Frontier Province where about 80 per cent of families lost their houses in quake affected areas.
Most of the REACH funds - About $20 million - will be invested in restoring houses or rebuilding new ones, IFAD said.About $3 million of the project funds will be allocated to help families buy livestock because many buffaloes and cows, normally a major source of income in poor rural communities, were killed by falling buildings. In addition, roads and bridges will be rebuilt in the remote mountainous areas to restore access to roads and markets.
With this project, IFAD will have participating in financing 21 loans to Pakistan with a total investment of $387 million. IFAD is a specialized agency of the UN dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.
Courtesy http://www.reliefweb.int