The cost of rebuilding Pakistan after its devastating floods could exceed $10 to $15 billion, the country's High Commissioner to Britain has claimed.
He said this was a rough estimate because an assessment of the extent of the damage caused by the floods, which have affected 20 million people, had yet to be carried out.
But the number gave an indication of the scale of the reconstruction needed after the floods swept away roads, bridges and telecommunications, and destroyed crops needed for food supplies, exports and cotton for its vital textile industry.
"It will take at least five years," High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said in an interview. Asked about the cost of rebuilding, he said, "I think more than $10 to $15 billion."
The United Nations has said $459 million is needed just for immediate relief, of which only a quarter has arrived.
Hasan said about 2,000 people had died - Earlier estimates put the death toll at 1,600 - and said this number was expected to rise as people began to die of disease.
