Abandoned after floods

THREE years after the 2022 floods submerged a third of Pakistan, more than 134,000 verified affected families in Balochistan who lost their homes have learnt that the state does not intend to rebuild for all of them. The committee overseeing a World Bank-funded project has capped the housing component at roughly 69,000 units and redirected the rest of the $400m programme towards roads and irrigation. Consequently, the lender has withdrawn the $180m in additional financing that could have completed the job. A prime ministerial promise of ‘resilient’ housing for every family that lost a home has ended up as a line item that has been quietly reassigned. The official policy has now confirmed that roughly half will stay without shelter.

A report in this paper suggests that 15,000 completed houses reported to the PM bore no relation to the 8,694 in the official record. An inquiry found misrepresentation, though accounts differ on who inflated the figures and why. The Planning Commission says housing funds were wrongly diverted there from health, education and irrigation to begin with, and that this is a correction. Others say that money is, instead, being pulled from the neediest component towards contractor-driven infrastructure. Both cannot be entirely true. What is certain is that the families affected have no say in the dispute. The commission cites 75,000 houses under construction and 26,000 completed — figures that sit uneasily against its own 68,922-unit cap. The Economic Affairs Division has flagged the World Bank’s unease over changes in project leadership as even the ministries coordinating this effort are not aligned. The fact-finding committee ordered to investigate has already been denied access to records in Balochistan — which itself should count as evidence. The comparison with Sindh’s relatively successful flood-housing programme only sharpens the indictment. Differences in financing do not explain why Pakistan’s most neglected province is also the one where promises of reconstruction prove most negotiable.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026

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