ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: Pakistan will have to initially raise minimum Rs300 billion for rebuilding of earthquake-hit areas following a ‘poor response’ at the Geneva conference where donors pledged only $580 million against a requirement of $5 billion.

Sources in the local United Nations office told Dawn on Thursday that both Pakistan and the UN authorities were disappointed over the outcome of the donors’ conference.

The sources said that Pakistan was apparently left with no option but to generate Rs275 billion to Rs300 billion to undertake the reconstruction process in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.

“Now all eyes are on the Nov 18 ministerial conference in Islamabad but we should not pin hopes on it after what happened in Geneva,” an official said.

The sources said that whatever had been sent by donors and Pakistan’s bilateral partners for relief activities was free of charge, but the funding being pledged for reconstruction would be in the shape of loans.

“There is a perception in the donor community that Pakistan should handle this crisis on its own,” another source said.

Under these circumstances, he said, Pakistan would have to cut its development and defence budget to raise the required funding. He pointed out that donors were ready to provide substantial funds but only in the form of loans and soft loans and not the grants which the country actually needed.

The government has started the exercise to divert part of its development budget to reconstruction and rehabilitation activities. “We cannot fulfil this huge responsibility without cutting our development and non-development budget during 2005-06 and also in future,” a source said.

Meanwhile, the UN and other organizations have revised their estimate of the people in need of immediate assistance to 2 million from 1 million. The affected urgently require winterized shelter, medical care, food, and water and sanitation facilities the sources said.