ADB and Japan to rebuild Myanmar’s Chin State

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ADB and Japan to rebuild Myanmar’s Chin State



YANGON: -- The Asian Development Bank and the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction are collaborating on a three- year project to rebuild cyclone-damaged infrastructure in Chin State, and leave townships better prepared for the next disaster, according to Myanmar Times.

The ADB has approved a US$10 million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, which will help upgrade roads and water supply infrastructure, repair power systems and reclaim inundated farmland, the development bank announced on April 22.

The road upgrades will take place across seven target townships using a “build-back-better” approach, where damaged infrastructure is repaired to be able to better withstand future disasters and climate change, the ADB said. Power systems will be repaired in 25 villages and water supply upgraded in 44.

Cyclone Komen and torrential rain resulted in flooding and landslides across 12 of Myanmar’s 14 states between June and August of 2015, according to the World Bank, which warned last month that the damage could shave 0.8 percent off Myanmar’s gross domestic product (GDP) unless recovery efforts were made.

The bank’s figures came from a government-led report titled Myanmar Post-Disaster Needs Assessment of Floods and Landslides, for which the World Bank and other international partners helped provide support.

Some 1.6 million people were displaced during the floods, which destroyed around 20pc of Myanmar’s cultivated land, according to the report. Chin State residents were hardest hit, with damages and losses amounting to around K132,560 ($115) per person, the report said.

A UNDP report from 2013 listed Chin State as Myanmar’s poorest.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/161013


-- Thai PBS 2016-04-26