Peshawar, June 15: The United Nations on Monday formally launched a USD 140 million project RAHA for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas in northwest Pakistan affected by the prolonged stay of Afghan refugees.
Pakistan was among eight countries where the Refugees and Hosting Areas (RAHA) programme is being implemented, project coordinator Muhammad Atif said.
The programme will initially be implemented in the four districts of Peshawar, Swabi, Haripur and Nowshera, through local communities in the affected areas, he said.
Over 4.5 million Afghan refugees had taken shelter in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province after the Soviet Union’s military invasion of Afghanistan in 1978.
–PTI