$75m addl WB loan for Sidr, Aila damage recovery works
Friday, 12 November 2010
FE Report
The government signed a US$ 75 million additional loan deal with the World Bank Thursday to bankroll damage recovery works due to the devastating cyclone Sidr and Aila in the southern Bangladesh, which caused losses worth nearly two billion dollars.
The World Bank had earlier provided $ 109 million for the damage recovery works under a scheme "Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project (ECRRP)".
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein signed the loan agreement in Dhaka.
ERD officials said the fund would be utilised to build 60 new cyclone shelters and rehabilitate 250 existing shelters, construct 380 kilometres embankments, introduce saline resistance agriculture crops in the coastal belt and develop hazard map and improve risk mitigation and reduction.
The World Bank said the improved protective infrastructure, as embankments and multi-purpose shelters, would reduce the risk to the cyclone-affected population if natural disaster hits again.
The devastating cyclone hit Bangladesh's south-western coastal districts in November 2007 and the Aila in May 2009 causing huge damage to wealth and lives of the people.
"The recurring natural disasters with increased severity and unpredictability remind us that Bangladesh is among the countries most affected by climate change," said Mrs Goldstein.
Mr Bhuiyan said: "The project is supporting the preparation and implementation of the first phase of a fifteen-year government programme for disaster risk reduction, which is a vital initiative to reduce Bangladesh's vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change impacts in the long run."
The Local Government Division and the ministries of Water Resources, Food and Disaster Management, Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock and Planning are jointly implementing the project.
The credit from the WB has 40 years to maturity, including a 10-year grace period, and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent. It has maximum 0.50 per cent commitment fees on un-withdrawn balance.
The government signed a US$ 75 million additional loan deal with the World Bank Thursday to bankroll damage recovery works due to the devastating cyclone Sidr and Aila in the southern Bangladesh, which caused losses worth nearly two billion dollars.
The World Bank had earlier provided $ 109 million for the damage recovery works under a scheme "Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project (ECRRP)".
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein signed the loan agreement in Dhaka.
ERD officials said the fund would be utilised to build 60 new cyclone shelters and rehabilitate 250 existing shelters, construct 380 kilometres embankments, introduce saline resistance agriculture crops in the coastal belt and develop hazard map and improve risk mitigation and reduction.
The World Bank said the improved protective infrastructure, as embankments and multi-purpose shelters, would reduce the risk to the cyclone-affected population if natural disaster hits again.
The devastating cyclone hit Bangladesh's south-western coastal districts in November 2007 and the Aila in May 2009 causing huge damage to wealth and lives of the people.
"The recurring natural disasters with increased severity and unpredictability remind us that Bangladesh is among the countries most affected by climate change," said Mrs Goldstein.
Mr Bhuiyan said: "The project is supporting the preparation and implementation of the first phase of a fifteen-year government programme for disaster risk reduction, which is a vital initiative to reduce Bangladesh's vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change impacts in the long run."
The Local Government Division and the ministries of Water Resources, Food and Disaster Management, Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock and Planning are jointly implementing the project.
The credit from the WB has 40 years to maturity, including a 10-year grace period, and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent. It has maximum 0.50 per cent commitment fees on un-withdrawn balance.