ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Inter-national donor agencies and Pakistan’s bilateral partners are willing to “contribute substantial funds” for collecting $5 billion required to carry out the huge reconstruction task, it has been learnt.
The sources in multilateral agencies told Dawn here on Wednesday that the initial response of donor agencies and other bilateral supporters was “positive” to help collect sizable funds at the donors conference being held on November 19 in Islamabad.
However, they believed that Pakistan would have to divert about $1 billion (Rs60 billion) for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities by delaying less important development projects till 2006-07.
The sources said that international donors were hoping that Pakistan would succeed in getting a considerable amount of grants from its foreign friends, especially those of the Middle East. But the World Bank, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have made it clear to the government that they do not have “enough provisions for grants” and that they could only be extending soft loans to help meet the cost of reconstruction.
The sources said Pakistan’s current macro-economic indicators were not very strong, especially high inflation, high imports, current account deficit, trade deficit and declining foreign exchange reserves.
“Under these circumstances, it would be difficult for the government to manage new resources but to cut the development budget and divert it for reconstruction work,” a source said.
He said that a joint damage assessment report of the World Bank and the ADB would be ready by the 6th of this month to be placed first before the government and later at the donors’ conference.
The sources said that lack of funds would force the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to ground its relief helicopters.
The WFP has so far received less than 10 per cent of the $100 million needed to deploy 30 transport helicopters to move food aid and other humanitarian supplies to villages and communities scattered in the rugged mountains of northeast Pakistan and Azad Kashmir which were devastated by the October 8 quake.
With an extremely harsh winter forecast, snow will soon cut off more areas ravaged by the disaster, which has already killed more than 55,000 people, injured some 74,000 and left over 3 million homeless.
“Helicopters are becoming more and more essential as landslides continue to block many access roads,” a source said adding that an additional 65 helicopters of the US, Nato and Red Cross were not expected to reach here before the middle of November to join relief and rescue activities, especially in the remaining 5 per cent mountainous terrain which was difficult to reach.
The WFP, which is in charge of organizing joint logistics for most of the humanitarian agencies operating in the 28,000-sq-km quake area, needed nearly $17 million a month to mobilize and operate aircraft, but so far has received only $9.8 million.
The cost of maintaining a Russian-made MI-26, the largest helicopter in the world with a capacity to ferry 16 tons of supplies per flight at these high altitudes, is about $11,000 per hour, excluding fuel and support costs. “WFP needs to operate five of these in addition to 22 smaller MI-8, each of which can carry three tons of supplies,” a source said.
But due to limited funding, the agency has only deployed eight MI-8s and one MI-26, and has confirmed only an additional four MI-8s and one MI-26.
With rising oil prices, aviation fuel cost for a full operation for one month amounts to $2.5 million. “Oil-producing countries and particularly those close to Pakistan could do the quake victims a great favour by providing us free fuel or on deferred payments,” the source said.
