Islamabad 10^th June 2009:   A media briefing was held at the ERRA headquarter today. Chairman ERRA Altaf Muhammad Saleem welcomed the media persons and thanked the media for its cooperation in keeping the general public informed about the development projects implemented by ERRA in the earthquake affected areas.

Later on Lt Gen Sajjad Akram gave a comprehensive briefing to the media. Following are the salient points highlighted by the Deputy Chairman.

Engagement of Elected Public Representatives In order to keep them on board and to ensure smooth and un interrupted development of the EQAA by ensuring community support / participation interaction with the elected public representatives of respective constituencies have been enhanced by arranging frequent meetings of the chairman and deputy chairman

•         Capacity Building of NESPAK, Provincial and State Line Departments Capacity constraint of the NESPAK, Provincial and Line Departments was a serious impediment in the pace of reconstruction and rehabilitation works. Special attention has been paid to this aspect and in the process NESPAK has been provided extra support for enrolment of additional skilled human resource and procurement of additional equipment. As of today, NESPAK has 617 skilled manpower as compared to 160, last year. Similarly, over Rs 4 Billion have been released to SERRA and PERRA for building the capacity of their Line Departments.

•         Introduction of Non Conventional Construction Technologies  To fast track the construction in EQ affected areas, latest construction technologies have been introduced, because conventional construction techniques were taking time due to inherent technical reasons 

•         Establishment of Project Implementation Coordination Unit (PICU) It was felt that lack of follow up and coordination in the field was adversely affecting the efficiency as well as progress of the development works. PICU has been established recently to harness this problem. This unit has its presence in the field to ensure smooth coordination and effective follow up of decisions taken at policy as well as implementation level

•         Launching of Minute Monitoring Manager ( M3 ) for Better Follow - up Action             A new web has been developed and launched at ERRA, which keeps a track of all strategic, policy or implementation level decisions with regard to their compliance.

•         Communication Strategy.          Though ERRA’s activities have been getting adequate coverage in the print and electronic media, a well thought out communication strategy was missing. Presently a Communication  Consultant  is developing a holistic communication strategy for ERRA. Besides information documentation, knowledge management, image building of ERRA, enhancing the donor confidence and managing the expectations, the communication strategy will help us in mounting coordinated efforts and making the right noises at the right time

•         ERRA Website ERRA Website is being redesigned and revamped both for the face lifting and improving the content. It is now expected to attract  more audience and convey our message more effectively

•         FMIS   FMIS has recently been operationalised , it is an on - line real-time financial management system. It is aimed at making the financial management transparent, more responsive and efficient. All the users will have visibility of the complete financial transactions and will be able to monitor the progress as well

•         Community Driven Construction of Schools       Education sector is the largest and also the slowest. Taking a lead from the success of owner driven construction of rural housing a pilot project of community driven construction of schools is being launched in collaboration with faculty of Peshawar University. In first phase 20 earthquake resistant primary schools will be constructed in the most remote areas. On successful completion of Phase 1, the project will be expanded

•         Launching of Social Impact Report        For the first time, M&E Wing has prepared a detailed social impact report of the EQAA where reconstruction and rehabilitation projects have been undertaken by ERRA. The social surveyors have worked hard for preparing an objective and reliable impact report based on primary data. While the first report is ready for launching, the M&E Wing is already working on the next one

•         TVS Report. Targeted vulnerability survey of all nine districts of the earthquake hit  areas has been completed. 

•         Old Balakot Recovery Programme        While no permanent structures are to be made at Balakot, there was a dire need of addressing the water, sanitation and service delivery issues of the people of old Balakot. Therefore, lately Rs 100 million recovery programme has been launched for the people of old Balakot.  Additionally we are also finalizing the old Balakot peripheral development programme

•         Flow of Funds  Recently an efficient system of flow of funds to PERRA and SERRA has been evolved by way of which both are being provided Rs 500 million each. Funds will not be allowed to fall below Rs 100 million. The moment their funds touch the balance of Rs 100 million Finance Wing of ERRA will automatically allot SERRA or PERRA another Rs 400 million so as to maintain the ceiling of Rs 500 Million.

•         Shifting of PERRA HQ to Abbottabad  Long standing demand of the people of the earthquake affected areas of NWFP has been met by shifting the PERRA HQ to Abbottabad in Jan 09. Now they will not be required to travel to Peshawar for getting their problems resolved. This change has been highly welcomed by the people of the earthquake affected areas of NWFP and is hoped to add efficiency and speed to the functioning of PERRA and lead to early completion of the projects

•         Third Party Material Checking  In order to ensure that we are getting what we are paying for, third party material checking regime is being put into place. All purchases made in the field will undergo sample checking by a committee headed by Legal Adviser with a rep each from procurement, finance and audit. For purchases made by ERRA HQ and imports from abroad, some reputed firms will be engaged

•         Two Envelopes Bidding System            In order to make the bidding system more transparent and eliminate the chances of any malpractices, two envelopes bidding system has been adopted. First the technical bids are evaluated and then the financial bids of only those bidders are opened who fulfill the technical requirements

•         Commissioning of Contractors Facilitation Centre          A dedicated contractors facilitation centre has been established in the ERRA HQ. Now the contractors can obtain all necessary information like number, type, size, map location, timeframe and logistic requirements of the planned projects ready for tendering. Tendering documents and PEC rules etc are also available there. All necessary information has also been posted on the ERRA Website and thus Facilitation Centre can also be accessed on line 

n      Commissioning of Engineers Wings       Dedicated engineers wings have been commissioned both in AJK  and NWFP in Jan 09. Hopefully it will settle the long standing issue of ownership of ERRA projects and increase the speed of reconstruction process

n      Coffee Book    An eye catching and highly expressive Coffee Book has been prepared covering different phases of the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of ERRA. While the funding will be provided by the donors, it will serve as an effective means of conveying our message to the target audience

n      MRDEA Handbooks    MRDEA Wing has developed two highly useful books for addressing the problems of the persons with disabilities. Volume ONE consists of 500 pages and Volume TWO of some 200 pages.  The books comprise of simple procedures and practices for community as well as individual training for handling the problems faced by the persons with disabilities. It is the first such effort in the country