ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has extended the Citizen’s Damage Compensation Programme (CDCP) till March 2014 and indicated it may provide additional funding for it because the government plans to restructure the programme to support recovery of flood-affected households.

A World Bank report said that more than one million eligible households had been enrolled in the programme, and a majority of them had received two tranches of their payments. At least 70 per cent of the beneficiaries had expressed satisfaction with the programme. All eligible beneficiaries were receiving Rs40,000 irrespective of the extent of damage sustained by their houses.

The CDCP is being implemented by the cabinet division and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) with the support of the provincial governments, and has made good progress, according to sources.

The government had requested the World Bank to provide additional assistance so that the system created under the programme could be institutionalised.

The extension of the project indicates the possibility of additional financing for institutionalisation of ‘Future Disaster Response Action Plan (FDRAP) for early recovery cash transfers developed under the project and approved by the government, the report says.

According to the report, the project has so far disbursed more than 98 per cent of the committed funds. The external audit and all interim un-audited financial statements have been found to be satisfactory.

The latest supervision mission for the project has rated financial management as satisfactory for one implementing agency and moderately satisfactory for the other.

The report says a mechanism has been agreed and established to enable the government to effectively respond to potential future disaster recovery. The prime minister has approved the action plan while the cabinet division is currently exploring the institutionalisation of this plan.

The cash transfer programme launched in 2010 focused on supporting flood-affected families. It was reasonably designed and implemented in line with international best practices on emergency cash transfer programming.