Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Monday attended a ground breaking ceremony to rebuild Balakoat in a completely new location after it was razed by the 2005 devastating earthquake.
"About 93 percent people of the old Balakot town are willing to relocate themselves at the new town having all modern amenities of life," Musharraf said at the ceremony.
"It is a manifestation of the government's resolve to convert the earthquake challenge into an opportunity," he said.
Musharraf said that the government had fulfilled its commitment with the people of the earthquake-hit areas by providing them withall facilities much better than the one which existed before the Oct. 8 devastating earthquake.
He directed the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) to allow the people of the area to construct quake resistant houses which suit their requirements.
The rebuilding will cost 12 billion rupees (about 200 million U.S. dollars), the President said.
The city, home to 300,000 people before the quake, will be rebuilt in a safer location to modern design standards.
The New Balakot will be built 20 kms south of the old city, and 15 km north of Mansehra, a major city in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
Around 78 percent of the old Balakot city lies on two fault lines, main boundary thrust and Himalayan frontal thrust, and it was flattened by an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude which killed some 73,000 people.
ERRA Deputy Chairman Lt. Gen. Nadim Ahmed said that an area of 1,425 acres had been acquired for this project which will be completed in three years.
The new city will be equipped with all modern facilities, and it could be expanded in three different directions, while it has the capacity to house 2.5 million people in next 25 years, he said.
