Friday, 12 November 2010

Cambodia receives 40 mln USD from WB for Typhoon Ketsana recovery

via CAAI

November 11, 2010

The Cambodian government received Thursday 40 million U.S. dollars from the World Bank for restoring the losses and damage caused by Typhoon Ketsana that hit the country last year.

Speaking at the signing ceremony to receive the assistance from World Bank, Keat Chhon, deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy said the assistance is classified into two forms, one of which is 20 million U.S. dollars as in grant and another 20 million U.S. dollars as in credit.

The assistance will target specifically to the poor under the World Bank's form of the Ketsana Emergency Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Project (KERRP) which aims to restore transportation and water and sanitation services to the affected people who are mostly poor and live in the rural areas, as well as to strengthen the capacity of the government in disaster preparedness and management.

"Typhoon Ketsana devastated the lives and livelihood of tens of thousands of Cambodian people, particularly the poor," said the World Bank Country Manager for Cambodia, Qimiao Fan.

"This project will help to restore the damaged infrastructure such as rural roads and provide basic services such as water and sanitation facilities, to the affected people in mostly rural areas," he said.

This four-year rehabilitation project will focus on four main components such as the rehabilitation, reconstruction and improvement of 920 km of existing rural roads, including bridges, culverts and drainage facilities.

The World Bank's program in Cambodia is designed to provide support to the poorest segments of the population, within the overarching goal to improve governance.

Keat Chhon said that including the 40 million U.S. dollars aid, World Bank has financed a total of 1,099 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia since 1993, of which 733.5 million U.S. dollars is credit and 365.5 million U.S. dollars is grant.

Source: Xinhua

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