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Asian Development Bank to provide US$ 60 million in soft loan |
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November 24, 2000
Dhaka-- (UNB)- Asian Development Bank will provide US$ 60 million in soft loan for post-flood reconstruction in Bangladesh’s southwestern region, officials said. It will be first response from international community since the government and donors separately started assessing the needs one and a half months back for mending the devastation done by flood havoc in the frontier districts. A Finance Ministry official told UNB the funds would be available next month after final deal at the Manila headquarters of ADB later this month. The ADB credits will be used for repair and maintenance of roads and highways, rural roads and bridges and Water Development Board embankments, damaged by the flash floods. The loan includes a component of US$ 10 million for helping people rebuild their houses washed away by the floods. The amount will be channeled through Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), which will give the housing loan at a minimum rate of interest in line with the government’s housing-assistance programme. Local estimates say some 500,000 houses have been totally destroyed and another 231,000 partially damaged by the flood onslaughts. Meanwhile, post-flood needs-assessment mission of donors, headed by WFP, submitted its final recommendations to the government, estimating roughly US$ 48.5 million for immediate relief, agricultural rehabilitation and supporting primary education. The mission did not however indicate what amount donors would offer as assistance for post-flood construction. A UN official said separate negotiations were going on between the government and international agencies, UN bodies and bilateral donors on different areas. ERD secretary Dr AKM Masihur Rahman earlier had said the government would not seek any specific amount rather project the intensity of damage reported by various ministries. The amount included US$ 32.3 million as immediate relief for 1.4 million people in worst-hit Satkhira, Jessore and Jhenaidah districts, $15 million for agricultural inputs and $ 1.2 million for assisting affected primary students. Earlier on November 9, donors’ mission discussed with the government officials its first-hand assessment of flood damage. “The level of government assistance so far announced will be insufficient to prevent a further decline into poverty,” the final assessment report of the donors’ mission said. The mission’s final estimate for immediate relief includes US$ 21.1 million for food, $6.4 million for 1.12 million blankets, $ 2.2 million for saris and lungis. The most urgent needs, identified by the mission, also include $2 million for warm clothing for children and $543,000 for polythene for make-shift housing to prevent winter. It assessed $ 1.2 million needed for a package of assistance to roughly 251,000 primary schoolchildren affected by the floods. In tune with the official estimates, it said a sum of US$ 15 million would be required to provide agricultural inputs to hasten agricultural rehabilitation in the affected areas, although it said crop damage would have little impact on overall national agriculture output. It recommended an increase in the VGF ration to at least 20 KG of rice per family and doubling the housing grants. The government is now providing Tk 1000 per family for housing and 10-kg rice per family every month in the flood-hit districts, which the mission termed insufficient. The mission said infrastructure damage was not so significant and suggested long-term programme of steady repair and maintenance. It felt the farmers should have access to soft credits for a limited period to undertake house and agricultural rehabilitation. |