Enhanced aid package from US

by Manjula Fernando

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) granted over US$ 2.5 million to support projects in emergency communication, water and transport, three areas given top priority by the Sri Lankan Government in the post reconstruction phase after the December 26 disaster.

Hosting a press conference at the American Centre, Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead said yesterday that five of the TDA grants were channelled in response to a distress call they received from Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

Treasury Secretary and the US Ambassador signed the six MoUs to implement five tsunami related projects and one to design a comprehensive capital investment plan for the country's civil aviation infrastructure, at the Finance Ministry yesterday.

The USTDA Director for Policy and Programme Geoffrey Jackson said the goal of the US $ 422,800 grant to the civil aviation sector is to support increased trade and growth in the tourism sector of Sri Lanka. The first grant worth US $ 491,000 will fund a feasibility study to assess the viability of a piped sewerage and sanitation infrastructure system in the coastal cities, Jackson said.

In the absence of a comprehensive system to clear waste-water, environment pollution had become a major problem in those areas and aggravated by short term temporary solutions. The study will be carried out at the request of the Urban Development and Water Supply Ministry.

The study carried out by a US firm will help the Ministry determine the best system to meet sanitation and sewerage needs in the tsunami affected coastal parts, he said.

The second grant worth US $ 356,000 will partially fund technical assistance for a solar powered community water supply pilot project in Hambantota. The project will explore means to provide safe drinking water to over 3,000 households. World Water and Power Corporation of New Jersey will provide additional resources to complete the pilot project.

The USTDA will carry out a study on how transport linkages between Colombo, Southern, Eastern parts can be improved through their third grant worth US $ 475,000 to the Ministry of Transport.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) received a US $ 375,000 grant for technical assistance related to ICT systems. Among other responsibilities the DMC is expected to determine the national response strategy to emergencies and serve as the central point of crisis information dissemination. The US funded technical assistance will provide overall strategies, best practices, capacity building and baseline ICT systems for the DMC.

The fifth grant of US $ 398,000 will provide technical and capacity building assistance to the Met Department to develop an early warning system for natural disasters.

According to the Treasury this US $ 2.1 million will be in addition to a bigger grant US $ 57.2 million in July 2005 by the US through USAID to finance tsunami-hit large and small scale infrastructure reconstruction.