Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 8:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to expand its highly successful project that helps conflict-affected communities in northeast Sri Lanka to include tsunami victims. It plans to extend the project to help tsunami-affected communities in the south.

Although over 60 per cent of damage caused by the tsunami occurred in the northeast, many areas in the south were also badly affected, the Manila-based bank stated, today.

Since 2001, ADB’s North East Community Restoration and Development (NECORD) project has assisted over half a million people in the northeast rebuild lives shattered by nearly two decades of conflict. The $40 million project, partly financed by an ADB loan of $25 million, provides housing and drinking water and helps fishermen and farmers to re-establish livelihoods. The project also repairs infrastructure like roads and bridges, schools and health centres. A second NECORD project, financed by a $40 million ADB loan, was in the bank’s programme for second half of 2005.

“Now we plan to bring it forward and expand it to include rebuilding after the tsunami. ADB is looking to provide additional funding of between $100 million and $150 million,” says Bob Rinker, deputy country director for the ADB’s Sri Lanka resident mission. “The additional funding will include tsunami-affected areas in south as well as the northeast, where other existing projects will be utilised and expanded.”

Last month, ADB committed emergency assistance totaling $200 million in new funding, much of it in grants, to Sri Lanka in 2005 for post-tsunami reconstruction. The restructured programme to assist conflict and tsunami affected communities is expected to be considered by ADB’s Board of Directors.