Rs8 bn so far contributed in Diamer-Bhasha, Mohmand Dams Fund: SBP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis in the country as well as from across the world have so far donated 7.97 billion rupees for Prime Minister and Chief Justice of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund.

According to an update issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the countrywide contribution to the fund stood at 7.09 billion rupees while the remaining 880.23 million rupees were contributed by expatriate Pakistanis.

Pakistanis living in USA remained on top by donating 334.735 million rupees, followed by UK from where a sum of 180.317 million rupees have been transferred to the dams fund so far.

Similarly, 120 million rupees were contributed to the fund through SMS service of various cellular companies in the country.

Read More: Rs 1500bn needed to build Diamer-Bhasha, Mohmand dams: CJP

Meanwhile, the SBP in a circular has directed the banks not to charge any service fee including interchange fee, merchant discount rate, transaction fee etc on donations/payments made to the dam fund through payment cards, including debit, credit or prepaid cards.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, recently in a statement, has said that Pakistan needed Rs 1500 billion to build Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams to avert water crisis looming over the country.

The Fund has been established by the SBP on the directions of the Supreme Court. All the commercial and micro-finance banks, and field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation have opened the Fund account to receive donations in cash, and through cheques, pay orders and demand drafts at all their branches across the country.

The donors can also make online donations to the Fund through internet banking, automatic teller machines (ATM) and other alternate delivery channels (ADC) using IBAN of their respective bank. The banks have sent the IBANs of the Fund account to their clients through SMS alerts, while the bank-wise list of IBANs is also available at the SBP’s web page.

Citizens can also donate Rs10 to the CJP’s dam fund by typing “dam” and sending the SMS to 8000 which will deduct the amount from the phone’s credit.

The donations can also be made through credit / debit cards from anywhere in the world by clicking the “Online collections for Supreme Court Diamer Bhasha & Mohamand Dams Fund” on the SBP’s web page.

The overseas Pakistanis having PKR accounts in Pakistan can also make donations in the Fund through the internet banking facility of their respective banks.