Reconstruction in Gaza to take decades, cost more than $40 bln

The reconstruction in Gaza is estimated to take decades and cost more than $40 billion, said the director of the Arab States Regional Bureau of the UN Development Program (UNDP).

UNDP's plan on the early recovery phase planned for Gaza is estimated to take three to five years and cost $2 to 3 billion, Abdallah al Dardari told reporters, adding that the long-term reconstruction plan will take decades.

Pointing out that the human development index for Palestine has regressed by 20 years, compared to 40 years for Gaza, al Dardari said that Gaza is almost back to the 80s.

All investments in human development in the Palestinian territories over the last 20 years and in Gaza over the last 40 years have been wiped out, he said.

They estimate investments worth about 50 billion dollars have been wiped out, he added.

Approximately, 37 million tons of solid waste has to be cleared in Gaza, he said.

Some 72% of the houses have been destroyed, he added.

He underlined that such a large scale of destruction in such a short period of time has never been seen before.

Referring to the situation of the banking sector, al Dardari said that almost all bank branches in Gaza were destroyed and that UNDP is continuing its efforts to prevent the collapse of the system.