Donors start assessing Sidr loss

A team of representatives from various donor agencies on Sunday started assessing the government's request of $2.10 billion in assistance for the restoration and rehabilitation work in the areas affected by Cyclone Sidr.
The 70-member team named Damage and Need Assessment (DNA) mission consists of representatives from Asian Development Bank (ADB), different UN agencies, major bilateral donor countries and 17 members from the World Bank (WB).
The mission will work with different ministries and visit the Sidr affected areas for their assessment work.
Planning ministry sources said the mission would hold a review meeting on January 30 after assessing the damag and make decision on Bangladesh's request.
"How much money they [donors] would provide us as assistance depends on the assessment of the mission," said a planning ministry official. The mission would also suggest possible projects in which the donors can contribute, he added.
Asked about the government's plea for providing food support instead of money, sources in the donor agencies said the mission would not deal with food support.
The ministries have designated high officials who would assist the mission during their assessment, the sources added.
The government earlier estimated that $ 2.1 billion would be necessary for relief, recovery and medium to long-term restoration and rehabilitation work in the cyclone-affected area.
Part of the programme would be implemented in FY08 at a cost of $ 520 million. Of this, $ 143 million would be provided from the budget of FY08 and another $ 377 million would be met this year from additional foreign assistance. Another $ 603 million is needed for medium-term projects and $ 982 million for longer-term projects.
Meanwhile, the WB has already made a commitment to provide $ 325 million assistance and the ADB another $ 180 million to recover the losses caused by Sidr.
On January 10, the board of WB approved a proposal for disbursing $ 100 million financial support to the government by the end of this month. The amount will help reduce the strain on the budget of FY08 following the non-planned spending resulted by the cyclone.
The WB will provide another $ 100 million by April for social investment programmes to restore the livelihoods of the cyclone-affected impoverished population through micro credit, emergency assistance funds, community infrastructure activities, skills development and income generating activities.
The WB's assistance in longer-term projects will depend on the findings of the DNA. According to a preliminary estimate, the size of the long-term programme of WB is around $ 125 million.