Palestinians Estimate Gaza Reconstruction Cost to be Around $US 7.8 billion

The Palestinian authorities said in a report released Thursday, that the cost of rebuilding the Gaza Strip would be around 6 billion euros or $US 7.8 billion.

Taking up one of the most comprehensive assessments till date to gauge the severity of the damage caused by the seven-week war with Israel, Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip are looking forward to building vital infrastructure in neighbourhoods razed completely by Israeli attacks. 

The Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, which looks after the implementation of donor-financed projects, said that the process would take "five years if Israel removed its blockade over Gaza entirely," AFP reports.

"The attack on Gaza this time had no precedent, Gaza has been hit with a catastrophe and it needs immediate help because many things can't wait long," Mohammed Shtayyeh, , a Palestinian economist and a senior member of the West Bank's dominant Fatah party, told the Reuters, Al Jazeera reports.

It has been estimated that around $US2.5 billion would be required for the reconstruction of 17,000 Gazan homes wiped out by Israeli bombings. On the other hand, the Authority noted that the energy sector would need $US250 million since the Gaza Strip's only power plant was destroyed by two Israeli missiles, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Shtayyeh further said that at this point it was evident that reconstruction of Gaza would largely depend on foreign aid and would require a guarantee that the Palestinian rivalry would not give rise to tensions in future, and most importantly it will require Israel to open its border crossings, said Shtayyeh - who heads the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development (PECDAR) which ran the survey, The Daily Times reports.