KARACHI, Jan 5: Local banks have agreed to provide Rs2.5 billion soft loans to quake-affected people in the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to help them establish businesses like hotels, motels, and transport. This was said by Federal Tourism Minister Syed Ghazi Gulab Jamal while talking to journalists after a meeting of bankers and representatives of the affected people at the Pakistan Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management on Thursday.

The minister said that the banks were ready to provide a soft term credit of Rs2.5 billion to the affected people and negotiations were being held with the banks to remove their concerns about repayment, titling, insurance and tenure of loans.

He said that he had agreed to the demand of the banks to constitute a committee — comprising representatives of banks, the federal government, the NWFP and the AJK — to prepare a package of the loans.

He said that the banks had wanted to contact representatives of affected areas themselves to ascertain requirements of the affected people and that was the reason that meeting was arranged.

He asked the participants to send their names to his ministry to ensure immediate announcement of composition of the committee.

Mr Jamal said that the government would provide every kind of support to the banks for arranging guarantee and insurance cover against the loans.

He said that the prime minister would be kept updated of developments on provision of the loans.

He said that tourism was the mainstay of 65 per cent residents of the quake-hit areas in the NWFP and the AJK as their livelihood depended on the income from that sector. “They need to build hotel and motels and buy vehicles to restart their new life.”

The minister said that reconstruction of damaged houses, offices and hotels had begun in the affected areas under phase II of the rehabilitation plan and the quake victims needed soft term loans in that regard.

Earlier, the representatives of the affected people in the NWFP and the AJK said that the people needed small loans amounting to Rs2 to 2.5 million for 10 to 20 years on soft term basis.

The meeting was also attended by State Minister for Finance Omar Ayub Khan, State Minister for Environment Malik Amin Aslam Khan and Pakistan Banks Association Chairman Shaukat Tareen. —-APP