The governor of Oro Province in Papua New Guinea, Suckling Tamanabae, says he wants a scoping study undertaken to determine the extent of the damage caused by floods six weeks ago.
Tens of thousands were made homeless and dozens lost their lives in the floods.
Much of the roading infrastructure in the province was also destroyed with dozens of bridges washed away.
Unofficial estimates of the repair bill have put it at nearly 100 million US dollars.
Mr Tamanabae is arranging for a Restoration Authority to be established and he says such an agency would need accurate figures.
And he says first they need funding for a scoping study.
"We would need a skilled technical man on the ground to do a proper scoping study on every damage to give an accurate figure on the proper restoration of infrastructure and other essential services that have been destroyed to be restored. So I think it is going to take a fair amount of funds to do that."
