Pakistan needs USD 30 billion to cover short and long-term needs of flood victims: Shehbaz Sharif

The conference aims to garner support from the international community for the flood-affected people and Pakistan has lobbied extensively to get maximum support from the international community as it struggles to provide support to the affected people.

Islamabad, Jan 07: Pakistan needs about USD 30 billion to cover the short and long-term needs of the victims of last year's floods that claimed about 1,700 lives, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said, as he sought the international's community's support ahead of a key donors conference. More than 33 million were affected due to massive floods hitting the country last summer, leaving many at the mercy of international donors.

Sharif's comments came as he sought the support of the global community ahead of an international conference being jointly hosted by Pakistan and the UN in Geneva on Monday. Sharif in an article in The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, wrote that a comprehensive roadmap for post-flood reconstruction and rehabilitation, to be presented at the conference, has been developed with the assistance of the World Bank, the UN, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union. He said the roadmap essentially envisages a two-pronged response to deal with the ravages of the flood.

The first part relates to meeting the immediate challenges of recovery and reconstruction, requiring minimum funding of USD 16.3 billion over a period of three years.

He said Pakistan would meet half the funding from its own resources but "will count on the continued assistance of our bilateral and multilateral partners to bridge the gap".

The second part outlines Pakistan's long-term vision for building climate resilience that would require an investment of USD 13.5 billion over a 10-year period, he argued. Shehbaz urged world leaders, representatives of international development and humanitarian organisations and friends of Pakistan to signal support and solidarity with a country that is grappling with a natural disaster that is not of its making.

The Prime Minister also expressed confidence that the Geneva conference marks only the beginning of a long and arduous journey, but a substantive outcome will reassure millions of imperiled people that the international community will help them rebuild their lives.

The conference aims to garner support from the international community for the flood-affected people and Pakistan has lobbied extensively to get maximum support from the international community as it struggles to provide support to the affected people.