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| Tuesday, 8 February 2005 |
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Three major donors keen on speedy post tsunami recovery : Convergent effort urgent need by Sudarshana Perera World Bank Country Director, Peter Harrold yesterday said the G8 summit scheduled to be held in June this year will discuss further relief for Sri Lanka from which the country will immensely benefit in its recovery process. Three international funding agencies, the Asian Development Bank, (ADB) the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the World Bank yesterday emphasised the need of a convergent approach towards the rebuilding and reconstruction process in the tsunami affected areas. The three major donors said that they are discussing on the possibility of raising US$ 500 million to meet the reconstruction needs in Sri Lanka. They said that the relevant institutions in collaboration with the government should apply an extra ordinary effort to expedite the process. The trio emphasized that they are ready to grant additional funding for the rebuilding effort if the need arises. The aid so far pledged will be disbursed over a period of time ending of year 2007. They also said that a mechanism should be in place to receive feedback from the people on the reconstruction process. The Country Director of ADB Alessandro Pio addressing a joint press conference said that the ADB will grant US $ 30-35 million to assist affected Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) while provide funding for existing projects and emergency assistance operation. "We will channel our aid in three phases and the joint assessment by us has clearly demonstrated the cost of the damage and we are firmly committed to help Sri Lanka to rebuild its economy and people's lives", Pio said. Country Director of the World Bank Peter Harrold said that the financing pledged for reconstruction in Sri Lanka is the largest he has ever seen. "Our strategies will be designed to fill any gaps that might occur in the process of rebuilding and reconstruction. We are waiting till the government and LTTE adopt a common mechanism and I am optimistic that a decision on this would be reached soon. The G 8 summit scheduled to be held in June this year will extensively deliberate further relief for Sri Lanka. The country will immensely benefit from the summit,", he said. Chief Representative of JBIC , Shinya Ejima said that Japan has promised US $ 18 million and private and bi-lateral funding will continue to follow to expedite the recovery program. |
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