Sindh has completed one million houses for families left homeless by floods, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced, marking a major milestone in the province's reconstruction programme. The houses were built under the Sindh Peoples Housing Programme, which aims to deliver 2.1 million climate-resilient homes across 23 districts.

Shah made the announcement at a ceremony to mark the achievement on Monday, telling the audience that every completed house had been geo-tagged and verified through a digital monitoring system to keep the process transparent. He said the Sindh Peoples Housing Foundation, which runs the programme, had managed the work with a team of just 40 people.

How the programme is funded

The chief minister said the World Bank had contributed 500 million dollars to the housing project, while the Sindh government had provided a further 179 million dollars from its own funds. He also acknowledged support from the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the European Investment Bank.

Shah said the programme began after Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instructed the provincial government to provide houses to flood-affected families, despite early doubts about whether a project of that scale could be delivered. Talks with the World Bank began in September, he said, and the required arrangements were completed by January, clearing the way for construction to start.

Rather than relying on contractors, the programme gave affected families the funds and support to build their own homes. Shah said the people of Sindh who rebuilt their homes through their own determination and hard work were the real heroes of the programme, and that beneficiaries now felt more protected during rainfall because of the newly built houses.

Homes registered in women's names

A central feature of the programme is that houses are registered in the names of women in the beneficiary families. Shah said hundreds of thousands of women in rural Sindh had become homeowners for the first time, giving them greater security, dignity and financial independence.

Addressing a ceremony in Karachi on Tuesday, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the one million houses were not merely buildings, because land ownership had also been transferred to their beneficiaries. He described the move as the largest land-transfer initiative since 1970 and said the provincial government was determined to reach its next target of two million homes.

Water and sanitation next

The chief minister said the government was now turning to clean drinking water, sanitation and drainage in flood-hit communities. Under a joint investment of around one billion dollars, those basic facilities will be extended to 4,800 villages, he said.

Shah added that the provincial government was in talks with the World Bank on water, sanitation and hygiene projects, and that work was under way to address drinking water shortages, improve agricultural water management and resolve issues affecting the Indus Delta.

He reiterated the government's commitment to completing the remaining houses under its target of 2.1 million homes, and thanked the Sindh Peoples Housing Foundation team, the development partners and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for their contributions to the initiative.

Sources: Daily Magazine and The AZB.