Development partners assure Bangladesh govt of $13m in Aila grant

Staff Correspondent, NewAge, June 5, 2009

Development partners have assured the government of immediate disbursement of $13 million as grants for repairing dams, cross-dams and embankments in the cyclone Aila-ravaged coastal districts, official sources said.
   

The assurance came in an inter-ministerial meeting with development partners at the Planning Commission on Thursday.
   

‘Three donors – World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency — have assured the government that they would disburse the amount immediately,’ said a senior official of the Economic Relation Division on Thursday after the meeting.
   

The official also said the development partners would not curtail the existing development project amounts because of this fresh assistance.
   

Sources said the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser, Mashiur Rahman, presided over the meeting on the possible strategies for mitigating the impact of Cyclone ‘Aila’. The World Bank country director, Xian Zhu, ADB country director Paul J Heytens, JICA representatives and high officials of the water resources ministry also attended the meeting.
   

‘The government has sought fund from the development partners what will be immediately needed for repairs to the damaged dams and embankments,’ Mashiur Rahman told the meeting.
   

He also said the long-term and medium-term assistance would be decided in the several consultation meetings with the water resources ministry.
   

The meeting sources said the water resources ministry would a hold a meeting with the development partners on Saturday at the secretariat on the long and medium-term assistance for the Aila-affected country’s south-western coast areas.
   

According to the meeting, the Water Development Board would need $62.46 million for repairing the water-related infrastructure but the board urgent needs $16.86 million.
   

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has already disbursed Tk 116 crore for the Aila-affected areas. Of the amount, Tk 41 crore is meant for repairing the dams and embankments while the rest will be used for food for work programme in.

Govt won’t seek foreign aid for post-Aila relief, suspends realisation of agri-loans in affected areas

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee, NewAge, June 2, 2009

The cabinet on Monday decided that the government would not make any appeal to the international community at the moment for aid for rehabilitation of the people affected by the cyclone Aila.
   

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, told the cabinet meeting that the government could tackle the situation on it own with domestic resources and would rather seek foreign assistance in construction of embankments and shelter centres in the disaster-prone coastal districts for a permanent solution to the problem, said a meeting source.
   

Photo: Focusbangla/NewAge

The meeting, held at the cabinet division, also decided to suspend realisation of agricultural loans from farmers in the cyclone-affected areas until further order.
   

The government will also request non-government organisations not to create pressure on the Aila-affected people to repay agricultural loans, food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzaque told New Age.
   

‘Natural calamities regularly visit the country. So the government will not seek any immediate foreign assistance to tackle the situation, rather we will seek their assistance in construction of embankments and cyclone shelters for a permanent solution…,’ Hasina was quoted by the food and disaster management minister as saying.
   

The prime minister also told the meeting that no government building would be constructed at ground level in the disaster-prone areas, meeting sources said.


Cyclone Aila struck the country’s south-western coast on May 25 battering 51 upazilas of 11 districts and killing 179 people by official count to date.
   

The meeting took a decision to repair the damaged embankments in the Aila-hit districts, the prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters. It also decided to keep open the disaster management control rooms at upazila level.
   

The cabinet assigned two ministers, one adviser to the prime minister, one state minister and the Khulna city mayor to oversee relief operation in the cyclone-hit areas, Azad said.
   

Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque will monitor relief activities in Satkhira, the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman and Khulna city mayor Talukdar Abdul Khalek in Khulna, while state minister for LGRD and cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak would monitor relief operation in Barisal and Bhola and state minister for religious affairs Shahjahan Miah in Patuakhali district.


 At the meeting, the prime minister asked the health minister to send more medical teams to the affected areas, sources said.
   

The meeting also reviewed progress of implementation of the decisions so far taken by the nearly six-month-old cabinet of Sheikh Hasina.
   

All the ministries narrated their activities and progress of implementation of the decisions taken by the cabinet after the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 6. Hasina expressed her satisfaction over the activities of the ministries.
   

Azad said a total of 124 decisions were taken in the 23 cabinet meetings held since January 7 till May 25 and of these 67 decisions had been implemented fully and 57 others were being implemented.
   

‘Drafts of 68 acts have been finalised. Of the drafts, 37 turned into laws through 32 bills in parliament. Eleven draft acts are waiting to be placed in the house through 10 bills and others are still under process in the ministries and departments concerned,’ Azad said.
   

Hasina asked all concerned to work sincerely to implement the cabinet’s decisions.
   

The army has been given the responsibility to construct and repair damaged embankments in three upazils – Swarankhola, Syamnagar and Asasuni. The cabinet asked the army to monitor the relief activities in other upazilas. Hasina asked the armed forces to brief their activities in the Aila-affected areas through ISPR, meeting sources said.