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[Reproduced fron the Daily News of June 21, 2005] The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Kyosuke Shinozawa signed ODA loan agreements totalling up to Yen 11.284 billion on June 9 with the Government of Sri Lanka to finance the Vavuniya Kilinochchi Transmission Line Project and Sri Lanka Tsunami Affected Area Recovery and Takeoff (STAART) Project. These projects aim to provide emergency assistance to the civil-war ravaged northern Sri Lanka and Tsunami devastated area respectively to help their restoration efforts. The highlights of the newly signed ODA loans are as follows: (1) Support for restoration in the northern region damaged by civil war.After struggling with civil war for 20 years, the government of Sri Lanka signed an indefinite cease-fire agreement in February 2002 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and a number of reconstruction and development efforts have been undertaken since then. As the first ODA loan financed project in support of full-fledged reconstruction, the Vavuniya-Kilinochchi Transmission Line Project aims at reconstructing transmission line and a substation destroyed by civil war. (2)
Support for restoration from damages caused by Tsunamis in Indian Ocean
Tsunamis triggered by the great earthquake off the Sumatra coast killed
over 30,000 people in Sri Lanka in December 2004. In January 2005, the
JBIC launched a study jointly with the World Bank and Asian Development
Bank to assess the extent of the damage and needs for support. (For
details of this study, please visit the JBIC website at: http://www.jbic.go.jp/autocontents/ The Sri Lanka Tsunami Affected Area Recovery and Takeoff (STAART) Project aims at supporting economic infrastructure reconstruction including roads, water supply and power, as well as supporting the private sector such as fisheries and tourism, the areas identified by the study above as having the greatest assistance needs. Vavuniya-Kilinochchi Transmission Line Project(1) Project Background and Necessity The armed conflict, which continued for nearly 20 years since 1983 between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an anti-government group organized by the Tamils, came to an end in February 2002 when an indefinite ceasefire was agreed through mediation by Norway. Following this ceasefire agreement, Tokyo Declaration on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka was adopted at the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka held in June 2003, in which the participating donor countries and international organizations have demonstrated their willingness to extend assistance. Japan has also pledged to provide assistance of up to $ 1 billion over the coming three years. Since then, a number of reconstruction and development efforts have been undertaken. Among the economic infrastructure sectors, power and its related facilities were most severely damaged by civil war. In particular, a transmission line was destroyed in the northern region. Early recovery is called for, since resuming power supply to residents victimized by armed conflict will encourage them to feel "dividend of peace". (2) Project Purpose and Description The JBIC will finance, jointly with ADB and KfW, the reconstruction of war ravaged transmission line and a substation in northern Sri Lanka. The project aims at ensuring stable power supply in the northern region by: 1) rehabilitating the Vavuniya-Kilinochchi transmission line (132kV) stretching some 75km; and 2) reconstructing a substation (31.5MVA 132/33kV) in Kilinochchi, thereby contributing to the reconstruction of the northern region. In northern Sri Lanka, a large number of landmines were laid during the conflict days and are now hindering reconstruction efforts. Since landmines are likely to be found in the project area, an international NGO which has an experience in removing landmines in Sri Lanka will be employed to eliminate those abhorrent devices in the project area. Project executing agencies are the Ceylon Electricity Board, and the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation. Sri Lanka Tsunami Affected Area Recovery and Takeoff (STAART) Project (1) Project Background and Necessity Over 30,000 lives were lost in Sri Lanka due to tsunamis triggered by the massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004. In January 2005, the JBIC conducted a study, jointly with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, to assess the extent of the damage and needs for support. For details of this study, please visit JBIC website at: http://www.jbic.ao.jp/autocontents/ The study has found that the northern, eastern and southern coastal areas of the country were most severely damaged; financial assistance totalling some 1 billion US dollars will be required over the coming three years; and there are strong needs for support in the private sector such as fisheries and tourism, and for the construction of bousing for affected residents an well as for economic infrastructures including roads water supply, sewerage and power. Japan has already provided (non project) grant aid totalling yen 8 billion to Sri Lanka in support of tsunami relief. Given the strong needs for support, however, the government of Japan has decided to make an ODA loan commitment to help economic infrastructure development, as well as to provide a two-step loan to support the private sector. (2) Project Purpose and Description. The purpose of the project is to support the reconstruction of economic infrastructure including roads, water supply, sewerage and power, and the private sector such as fisheries and tourism, which are the areas identified by the study above as having the greatest assistance needs, thereby contributing to upgrading living conditions of the affected residents and the reconstruction of regional economy. The project consists of the following two programs: (a) Small-scale infrastructure program Small-scale infrastructure recovery and reconstruction projects are implemented in water supply, roads (national and provincial), irrigation, power and mail service. (b) Small-scale reconstruction program A two-step loan is provided via a financial institution to meet capital investment and other financial needs of the tsunami-afflicted private sector ("small-size enterprises" such as fisheries and tourism).
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