ISLAMABAD, 16 October 2005 — The government will have to spend more than $10 to 12 billion for rehabilitation of quake devastated areas in NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.

The initial estimates by the multilateral donors and government of Pakistan for rehabilitation amount to more than $10 to 12 billion for quake hit areas under short-term, medium-term and long- term strategy.

The government expects to fill this gap through donations from abroad and local Pakistanis, assistance from multilateral and bilateral creditors and charity assistance from renowned figures of the world, sources further said. The worst ever devastation caused by severe earthquake completely destroyed whole infrastructure in shape of roads, bridges, schools, health facilities, houses, and commercial entrepreneurs in Hazara division and AJK.

The top UN Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said it would cost billions of dollars over next five to 10 years to rebuild the quake-affected areas in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. “My biggest worry today is that there will be tremendous bottlenecks,” Egeland told reporters.

Pakistan has suffered about $5 billion in losses to infrastructure from the earthquake and has been pledged $500 million to rebuild, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said yesterday.

“Close to $5 billion damage has been caused to the private and public sector infrastructures,” Aziz said.

The United Nations has said it will take up to 10 years to rebuild, “but we think we can do it earlier,” Aziz said.

He said the United Nations was organizing a donors’ conference to be held in Geneva within a week, noting: “We are waiting for the dates.”

Aziz said the country has received $500 million in pledges from the international community as quake assistance, while three billion rupees ($500,000) have been donated so far to Pakistan’s domestic relief fund.

He was speaking after Saudi Arabia announced an emergency aid package worth $133 million for infrastructure projects in the fellow Muslim nation.

The Oct. 8 earthquake killed more than 38,000 people, injured 62,000 others and left some 3.3 million people homeless in Pakistan.