PESHAWAR, Aug 26: Reconstruction in the earthquake-hit areas may require more than 96 million cubic feet of timber, posing a threat to the already depleted forest resources of the NWFP.

Officials of the NWFP Forest Department said that the province had about 90 million cubic metres (on standing volume basis), which was not sufficient to meet the reconstruction requirements in future.

On average basis, forest department supplies about 7.3 million cubic feet of soft timber annually to the market for the domestic construction sector.

“Timber demand will surge by 13 times after the execution of reconstruction activities in the quake-hit areas”, an official said.

“Forest resources in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir will vanish if the government relies only on domestic forests,” he observed.

The last year’s earthquake damaged 783,583 houses – of them 537,503 in the NWFP — and government buildings, according to official figures.

The quake had also damaged forests and the infrastructure of forest and wildlife department.

The federal ministry of environment carried out a survey in the quake-hit areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir to asses the damage.

The report said that a total 865,467 acres of forest in Azad Kashmir and in the NWFP had been damaged because of massive landslides, while 338,329 acres of private land had been affected in Azad Kashmir.

The provincial forest department, officials said, had requested the federal government to provide funds for the conservation and development of the renewable natural resources and improvement of livelihood of communities affected by the disaster.

“The department has requested Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority to release Rs1.903 billion for rehabilitation of damaged forest resources and lands,” said an official.

The Erra, he said, had refused the forest department’s request, adding that the authority had agreed to pay money only for rehabilitating forest resources damaged by earthquake, but would not provide funds for the afforestation campaign.

He said that the department would rehabilitate and develop 50,000 acres of range lands, plant trees over 120,000 acres in the buffer zone and uncovered areas in five affected districts of the province.

The Forest Department, officials said, had proposed two pronged strategy for the reconstruction phase to protect its forests and ensure cheap and bulk supply of timbers for the survivors of the quake.

According to the strategy, the government should ask donors to provide timber as donation instead of cash and also launch large-scale forestation in the quake-hit area, the officials said.

They said that the government should introduce new designs to minimise the use of timber in construction of houses and government buildings.

Keeping in view the growing demand and shrinking forest resources, federal government has waived import duty on timber to ensure availability of soft wood and reduce price, said a Karachi-based timber importer.