ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday directed the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) to rebuild infrastructure, education and health facilities in the shortest possible time in earthquake-hit areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

He was presiding over a meeting held here to review the pace of reconstruction in the quake-hit areas.

The president directed Erra to accelerate the pace of reconstruction and rehabilitation so that the survivors could get proper shelters before the next winter.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Durrani, Chairman of Erra Altaf Saleem, Deputy Chairman Lt-Gen Nadeem Ahmed and officials of the federal and AJK governments.

Erra chairman briefed the meeting about the ongoing efforts and said that the government had already disbursed Rs48 billion among the quake survivors for building quake-resistant houses. The meeting expressed satisfaction about provision of proper shelter to about 95 per cent of the displaced survivors while the remaining people would be accommodated before the onset of the next winter.

The meeting was informed that out of $3.7 billion pledged by donors for reconstruction, the government had already received about $2 billion, which was more than the estimated Rs1.2 billion required on year-on-year basis.

The government planned to hold a conference in October to be attended by representatives of donor countries, aid and volunteers agencies to review the pace of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The president was informed that nearly 36,000 people had been trained in different vocations and they were now involved in the massive reconstruction activity.—Online