A two-member delegation of Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday visited Wapda House and held a meeting with Wapda Land Acquisition and Resettlement Wing to discuss Resettlement Action Plan for Diamer-Bhasha Dam project. The ADB is providing $0.5 million to Wapda as grant under Capacity Development Technical Assistance (CDTA).
The grant, to be utilised for capacity building and effective safeguard management during implementation of projects, mainly covers four areas which include institutional assessment, policy development, capacity development and support for safeguard preparation for priority major dams.
During the meeting, the delegation was appraised that Wapda, in line with international guidelines and safeguard policies, has chalked out a comprehensive resettlement action plan for affectees of Diamer-Bhasha Dam project to materialise socio-economic uplift of them. It was further told that Rs 68 billion has been earmarked for providing social services to the affectees, while Rs 42 billion for acquisition of land and Rs 8 billion for compensation of other assets.
Later, the delegation visited Wapda Land Acquisition & Resettlement Wing. On the occasion, the delegation was briefed that Wapda had established this exclusive formation comprising social scientists of all relevant specialties in line with the best international practices and the guidelines of ADB. The ADB delegation was comprised Manila-based Senior Social Development Specialist (Safeguards), Ross J. Butler and Principal Social Development Specialist in Pakistan Ruwani A Jayewardane.
