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| May 13, 2005 |
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| India To Receive $733.5 Million in Tsunami Assistance |
WASHINGTON - May 13, 2005. India signed agreements on Thursday with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $733.5 million assistance package to help the government rebuild areas hit by the tsunami disaster last December, reports Agence France Presse.
The World Bank financing of $528.5 million will restore clean drinking
water supply to the southern state of Kerala and rebuild houses, roads, and
infrastructure in the other tsunami-lashed states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and conclave of Pondicherry. "The World Bank is pleased to be associated with the reconstruction program, which goes beyond just restoring the situation that existed before the tragedy and provides improved living conditions and new opportunities to the affected people," said Michael Carter, chief of the World Bank in India.
The ADB support of $205 million will include a $100 million loan from
ADB's capital resources, a $100 million grant from its Asian Tsunami Fund and $5 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. The ADB
assistance will go towards reconstructing damaged infrastructure in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. The funds are being provided on the basis of a damage and needs assessment report prepared by the World Bank, ADB and United Nations which estimated the reconstruction costs in the four
mainland Indian tsunami-affected states at $1.2 billion. The United
Nations is expected to provide a further $38.5 million at a later date.
The Press Trust of India adds that the World Bank aid includes $61 million
reallocation within existing IDA and a special $2.5 million grant. The
financing will also support studies for long term coastal management. A
sum of $40 million has been allocated to Andhra Pradesh, $10 million to
Kerala, $42 million to Pondicherry and $434 million to Tamil Nadu. The
World Bank's special grant of $2.5 million will be used for studies and
training in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
In related news, The Hindu (India) reports that the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD) has drawn up an integrated eight-year
project for rebuilding the livelihood of communities devastated by the
tsunami. The project has a $100-million funding component for India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives and $30 million will be allotted for
Tamil Nadu alone. It will cover all affected communities, including
fishermen and farm laborers. The project, likely to start in a few weeks, will be a partnership among the IFAD, the State Government and
community-based organizations. While the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank would be the funding partners, the state government would
bear 10 percent of the cost.
Reuters meanwhile reports that a major donor conference next week (May
16-17) in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Development Forum, aims to reach an
agreement to ensure that nearly $2 billion of pledged post-tsunami aid is
not wasted and is used quickly to rebuild the areas hit. More than 100
international aid agencies, financial institutions and foreign governments
at the conference will also seek a fresh commitment from Colombo to renew
stalled peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels. "People want to see things
happen and that's what we all want to see," Peter Harrold, the World
Bank's Country Director for Sri Lanka, said Thursday. "We are ready and we
have committed resources. And we want to know how we can work together to
overcome constraints to implementation so that things can naturally change
on the ground. This is a challenge the world has not seen before because
this much private financing has never been available in a post-disaster
situation.”
Although victims have received emergency assistance, the process of
resettling and rehabilitating them permanently has been slowed by the
failure of the government to agree a deal on sharing aid with the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Sri Lankan officials said the government
was confident about reassuring donors about its commitment to peace and
development and it was working on a three-year program to rebuild
tsunami-hit areas.
The Associated Press further reports that a World Bank official said
Thursday that foreign donors may commit more aid to tsunami-stricken Sri
Lanka even though the government and rebels failed to reach an agreement
on how to distribute it. Officials said Thursday a joint mechanism between
the government and rebels to allocate aid in the hardest hit
Tamil-majority northeast won't be in place in time for the meeting. There
had been concerns that the donors would insist on a deal before committing more aid. But Harold said it hadn't set any requirements. "No such preconditions have been set. It would have been inappropriate," Harold
said.
Reuters meanwhile writes that UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said on Thursday at a one-day "private sector summit on post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction" in Washington that rebuilding from last December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami has been too slow and frustration is growing among displaced people. Governments, private organizations and individuals from around the world have pledged or spent more than $8 billion dollars in the relief effort. A large amount of this money has not yet been spent while aid groups and governments wait for nations to draw up their "master plans" for reconstruction. Egeland said
Indonesia, the Maldives and India had put together their master plans and
Sri Lanka's would be ready in the next few days.
Agence France Presse adds that some corporate donors have been reluctant
to release funds to tsunami-hit economies because of a lack of firm action plans with guarantees of transparency. Ministers from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Maldives assured the 300 business leaders attending the conference that all reconstruction projects would be undertaken in a transparent manner to avoid any suspicion of graft.
Source: The World Bank |
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