China donates $100,000 to Karachi, RMB 500,000 to Sindh CM’s flood fund

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his meeting with the Chinese Consul General Li Bijian, at CM House in Karachi, said that well-reputed people from the private sector have been inducted into the company constituted for the construction of the houses that collapsed during heavy rains so that transparency could be ensured.

In the meeting on Friday, he said, “The funds raised or taken as loans from the lending agencies for the construction of the houses of the flood-affected people would be utilized transparently and its audit would be conducted by a well-reputed firm.”

Shah invited philanthropists, international community members, friendly countries, and multinational companies to come over and select a locality/Mohalla or a village for the construction of the collapsed houses and undertake the work from the contractors or construction companies of their choice, while assuring them of the support of Sindh government.

The CM said that the heavy rains and floods have damaged 3.8 million houses, for which his government has negotiated a loan of $500 million to reconstruct the houses, but the number of houses was so large that more help and assistance was needed to house all the displaced people.

The Chinese consul general told the chief minister that a team of their experts was scheduled to visit the flood-affected areas of the Sukkur division to survey the collapsed houses and then select the areas to reconstruct the houses.

CM Sindh thanked the Chinese government and the people for helping the Sindh government with the rehabilitation of the affected people.

The Chinese consul general presented a $100,000 cheque to the chief minister of Karachi and RMB 500,000 for the CM Fund for flood-affected people. The chief minister thanked the consul general, the Chinese government, and the people for helping the flood-affected people of Sindh.

Hanif Samoon is a senior journalist based at Thar/Badin and contributes reports from different districts of Sindh to Minute Mirror. He has won a number of awards, including the Agahi Award twice for his stories on health and child rights. He tweets @HanifSamoon1 and can be reached through email at [email protected]