Thursday, 17 September 2009

ADB Pledges US$104 Million for GMS Corridor Projects

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Written by DAP NEWS -- Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:38

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged to provide US$ 104 million for two Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) corridor development projects (CTDP), a senior ADB official said at the sidelines of the second corridor economic forum in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

The ADB funds will help with preparatory technical assistance for GMS countries for town development 2010-11, and will include both loan and grant aid, said Florian Steinberg, senior specialist for the Urban Devel- opment, and Transport Division of ADB’s Southeast Asia Development unit. It also will assist public sector and bilateral co-financing and private sector investments, he added, adding that the target funds could be doubled or tripled from ADB funding.

“The sources for providing fund are coming from different countries,” he said. “ The fund will help to strategic economic development planning in economic profiling of towns.”

“It will offer priority infrastructure incentives for private investments and building management capacity in support sustainable urban development and promote private sector investment.”

The preliminary funding plan under the CTDP, Cambodia will get US$26 million in loans and another US$24 million in allocation. Similarly, Laos will get US$26 million as grant aid, while Vietnam will get US$52 million as loans. Funds will also be provided by respective governments to support the projects, he said.

The project is to convert the GMS transport corridor into an economic corridor, and capture economic and social benefits of increased trade and traffic flows. This should help enhance the economic performance of towns and cities in order to bring the prosperity and sustainable development in an urbanizing region, he said.

The governor of each province, as well as local authorities will play a key role in implementing the work because they know the difficulties and challenges on the ground, he said.

Cheang Am, governor of Cambodia’s Svay Rieng provinc,e said that the economic corridor strategy will help poverty reduction in his province and help many people access modern services including clean water and electricity at a price many locals can afford.

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