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ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank has launched a fast-track survey to assess reconstruction needs in the region of Pakistan devastated by the October 8 earthquake, a senior ADB official said.
"This would be a rapid assessment. In my experience of the ADB, this has never been done so fast," said Peter Fedon, country director of the ADB, in a Financial Times interview.
Mr Fedon said reconstruction was critical because people in the affected region were facing continuing dangers. "This is a unique situation because you may have people dying weeks later," he said.
With winter closing in, an estimated 2.0m survivors are still waiting for help in the rugged Himalayan foothills and thousands are still camped in the open. The official death toll so far is just over 50,000, but relief officials believe twice as many may have died.
The Manila-based ADB said its part of the assessment would focus on education, transport, water, energy and agriculture, while the World Bank would concentrate on livelihood restoration, housing, health, the private sector and the environment.
The joint team is expected to submit its report by mid-November, the ADB said.
John Wall, the World Bank's country director, said late last week in a statement: "We are racing against time to assess the damage so we can develop a reconstruction assistance strategy and begin the rebuilding."
The World Bank has announced $40m to be redirected from existing projects and has said the cost of rebuilding would run to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The two multilateral institutions are likely to exchange information with other bilateral donor agencies active in Pakistan, as international efforts get under way for offering medium- to long-term aid.
The launch of the assessment coincided with the meeting of European Union development ministers on October 24 to discuss the situation in Pakistan.
An earlier FT Syndication Service report also by Farhan Bokhari from Islamabad adds: The International Monetary Fund has offered to lend up to $375m on concessional terms to earthquake-struck Pakistan -- a quarter of the country's IMF quota -- to help with reconstruction efforts.
The offer was made by Rodrigo Rato, the IMF's managing director, during a recent visit to Pakistan, according to a senior fund official travelling with him. "This amount can be offered at an interest rate of as low as 0.5 per cent. The IMF would not attach any conditions to this loan," the official told the Financial Times.
The offer comes ahead of meeting in Geneva on October 24 between Pakistan and prospective donors to discuss the financial needs for relief and rehabilitation of victims.
Islamabad announced that the death toll had risen to nearly 48,000. Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan, the federal relief commissioner in charge of the relief effort, told a news conference late last week that 47,723 people were known to have died in Pakistan. Another 1,300 were killed in Indian Kashmir.
Pakistanis were also reminded late last week of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8 when an aftershock of 5.8 on the Richter scale shook parts of the mountainous region of Kashmir administered by Pakistan. There were no reports of casualties.
Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister, has said Pakistan requires at least $5.0bn for reconstruction work, which could take 10 years. So far international commitments of about $610m have been made.
Mr Aziz said earlier that Pakistan was not looking for fresh IMF loans, but IMF officials said he was referring to a loan programme with conditions. In the 1990s Pakistan had an IMF loan programme with strict conditions that was extremely unpopular.
"Since the IMF's help is being offered for the recovery and relief effort and there are no strings attached, we must consider this," said Yasin Lakhani, chairman of the Karachi stock exchange.
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