ERRA ::: Events & Activities 2010

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES 2010

Full cooperation and coordination between ERRA and AJ&K Government will be ensured to complete the remaining reconstruction projects - Prime Minister AJ&K

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A high level meeting was held at Kashmir House, Islamabad on January 20, 2010 to review the progress of reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in earthquake affected areas of AJ&K with a view to devising ways and means to accelerate the pace of theses projects. The Prime Minister AJ&K, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, presided over the meeting. Among other State ministers for Construction, Housing, Minister Education, Deputy Chairman ERRA, Chief Secretary AJ&K, Additional Chief Secretary AJ&K and senior officials of both ERRA and NESPAK attended the meeting.

In his opening remarks, while welcoming the participants, the Prime Minister AJ&K said that both Azad Government of Jamu and Kashmir and the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority have common goals and objectives, and they are striving for the accomplishment of a joint mission, which is to convert the 2005 “Adversity into an Opportunity” for the affected people with an obligation to “Build Back Better”. A comprehensive briefing was arranged by ERRA on this occasion to update the Prime Minister and selected members of his cabinet about the overall progress of reconstruction projects in AJ&K.

The Prime Minister and the State Ministers, present on the occasion, were informed that the designing of remaining schools buildings will be completed by 31^st March, and the tendering of Bagh and Rawlakot District Government Complexes will be completed by the next month. It was also told that as soon as the issue of land acquisition is resolved, the tendering of AJ&K University, King Abdullah Campus, Muzaffarabad will be completed. The participants were also informed that in Rural Housing Sector more than 234, 000 houses have been already reconstructed, whereas 12,000 houses are still under construction in AJ&K. The affectees have been paid more than Rs. 39 billion as housing subsidy in AJ&K. ERRA’s flagship Rural Housing Programme, nearing culmination, is expected to achieve over 95.5% success rate which the best in similar contemporary disasters. Out of a total of 6775 Government buildings, 2198 have been already completed. All issues, regarding the City Development Project have been resolved with the Chinese Companies.

The overall progress, presented in the meeting is as follows:

Stage	By Jun 08		By 15 Jan 10		Increase
	Projs	%age	Projs	%age
Completed	1214	9.3	4883	37.46	3669
Under Construction	1619	12.40	4399	33.75	2780
Tendering/Designing	6786	52	3753	28.79	-3033
Total	9619	73.79	13035	100	3416
Over All Progress: Up to Jun 08: 21.7 % Up to Jan 10: 71.21 %

Progress in AJ&K, alone:

Stage	By Jun 08		By 15 Jan 10		Increase
	Projs	%age	Projs	%age
Completed	710	10.48	2198	32.44	1488
Under Construction	535	7.90	2559	37.77	2024
Tendering/Designing	3690	58.82	2018	29.79	-1672
Total	4935	-	6775	-	1840
Over All Progress: Up to Jun 08 18.38 % Up to Jan 10: 70.21 %

Following issues were also brought to the notice of participants:

· Urban Development

32 priority projects were approved in July 2009 (Muzaffarabad 16, Rawalakot 5 and Bagh 11) Govt of AJ&K

is requested to play the lead role in all matters related to project implementation i.e. the removal of

encroachments, land acquisition, relocation of existing services, negotiations of BOQs and finalizing of

individual contracts with Chinese, so that the projects may be implemented without any further delay

Site Supervision / Quality Assurance

At present 234 supervisory staff of NESPAK is carrying out supervision of 1638 under construction

projects in AJ&K. Through increasing the enrolment of supervisory staff, NESPAK has attained and

maintained the ratio of 1 Supervisor for every 7 projects, ensuring better quality of construction

On larger Projects i.e. High Schools and above, NESPAK will have a dedicated supervision staff

Education Sector

Taking Over of Completed Facilities

A large number of education facilities have been completed but have not been taken over by the

Education Deptt

District Education Officer Secondary and District Education Officer Elementary may be appointed as Focal

Persons for taking over of completed facility from Contractor / Line Deptt

Provision of Furniture: Procurement/ provision of furniture is behind the schedule which needs to be

expedited

Delay in Tendering and Award of Projects

Miscellaneous

Security Arrangements for Chinese. Rs 247 million have been provided to AJ&K Police for providing

security to the Chinese

Political Pressure. There have been instances of political pressure for changes in the approved projects.

That results in undue delay.

Sustainability. ERRA has constructed state of the art health/education institutions; however, most of

these institutions lack trained human resource, non provision of electricity and water.

The Prime Minister AJ&K appreciated the efforts being made by ERRA to reconstruct the destroyed facilities with much improved quality of construction work. He assured ERRA of the fullest support and cooperation to help the Authority complete its job within the planned timeframe.

The Deputy Chairman ERRA, Lt Gen Sajjad Akram, thanked the Prime Minister for his encouragement and cooperation, and reiterated ERRA’s resolve to complete the remaining projects with speed without compromising on quality and standards set by the Authority itself.