ADB to offer $2 billion loan

The Asian Development Bank will offer Pakistan a $2bn emergency loan to help repair massive damage to infrastructure caused by the country''s recent floods, according to Financial Times. "Juan Miranda, the bank''s director-general for central and west Asia, told the Financial Times that the ADB would also set up a trust fund to channel donor contributions for reconstruction," the newspaper''s website said.
The ADB will work with the World Bank and Pakistani officials to assess the scale of the damage by the end of September. Miranda said he is due to meet President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad on Friday to discuss the terms of the concessionary loan. "We will make available a minimum of $2bn towards the reconstruction effort," the newspaper quote Miranda as saying. "We have a long-term commitment to the country. This is a time when we have to show what we''re made of, to work with everyone to figure out exactly how we can put back dignity into the lives of the people."
The pledge is the largest commitment made by donors to finance flood-related reconstruction in Pakistan. The World Bank said on Monday it was making $900m available to finance the rebuilding effort. According to the newspaper, Miranda said the damage caused by the floods was greater than the combined impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and the Haitian earthquake in January. "I would encourage every donor and the international community to come good at a time when it''s most needed," the newspaper quoted Miranda as saying. "Speed is of the essence. We have to put back facilities to where they used to be or even in better shape."
Miranda said the bank would establish oversight procedures to ensure donor contributions to its planned reconstruction fund for Pakistan will be used effectively. "We have to and will make absolutely sure that those resources will be used in the way and for the purpose for which they were intended," Miranda was quoted as saying. The ADB is also providing a $3m grant to Pakistan''s disaster management authorities to purchase boats, helicopters and other equipment needed for relief efforts and to help assess the scale of the devastation, according to the newspaper.