Imdad 
Infrastructure Devastated by the Monsoon Rains
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal stated on Tuesday that Pakistan needs more than $10 billion to reconstruct infrastructure devastated by the monsoon rains.
“To date, more than 1,100 people have died in terrible floods brought on by the nonstop rain.”
Infrastructure has suffered “massive devastation,” he told AFP, “particularly in the fields of telecommunications, highways, agriculture, and livelihoods.”
Cost of the Destruction
Iqbal’s comments are a repeat of his assessment from a day earlier, when he told Reuters that he thought the cost of the destruction brought on by the floods would be “massive.”
Iqbal stated that “so far, [a] very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10 billion,” adding that there was damage to nearly one million homes.
“People have actually lost their complete livelihoods,” he added, comparing the current floods to those that struck Pakistan in 2010.
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Five years to Rebuild and Recover
The nation would likely need five years to rebuild and recover, according to the minister, and in the short term, it will face severe food shortages.
Separately, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that flooding would have an economic impact of at least $10 billion, or nearly 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Torrential Rains and Record Floods
The projections come as Pakistan struggles to recover from torrential rains and record floods, which have killed over 1,000 people, affected more than 33 million people, or over 15 percent of the 220 million people living there, and submerged most of the nation.
In addition, the nation is in danger of losing its ability to feed itself due to extensive crop devastation and livestock losses.
