USAID funds for women shelter home diverted out of Chitral

CHITRAL: An amount of Rs99.76 million provided by USAID for construction of a shelter home (Darul Amaan) for women at Booni have been diverted to some other district as the Communication and Works (C&W) Department failed to start work on the site according to the given deadline.

In a letter issued from the Peshawar office of USAID to the C&W department, it has been communicated that any work might be carried out by the department at their own risk and cost as the USAID could not ensure availability of the funds.

The letter said under the Reconstruction Programme of KP, USAID had approved the project for Upper Chitral district two years ago and work was to be started on the site by Sept 15 and completed by June 2020. But the executing department failed to follow the timeline.

To start work on the site, the project implementation letter had to be signed with USAID for which hiring of a consultant was required to prepare drawing and design and all this should have been done before June this

The KP Reconstruction Programme of USAID is scheduled to close down by June 30, so the projects need to be completed by this date.

District Development Advisory Committee chairman Wazir Zada expressed his dismay over shifting of the project from his district. He demanded of senior management of USAID in KP to review the decision as shelter home was urgently needed in the area.

Also read: Shelter home opens in Chitral town

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