The Japanese government has provided US$8.6 million through an additional grant to support and scale up successful development activities underway in Khammuan province.
The additional support is being provided through the Japan Policy and Human Resources Development Technical Assistance programme via World Bank programmes for post disaster reconstruction and the development of basic infrastructure in rural areas.
Dr Viengthong Siphandone ( right ) shakes hands with Ms Keiko Miwa after the signing ceremony.
The grant agreement was signed yesterday in Vientiane between Deputy Minister of Finance Dr Viengthong Siphandone and World Bank Country Manager to Laos Ms Keiko Miwa, witnessed by representatives from both sides and other invited guests.
The additional grant will finance costs associated with three main components of the Khammuan Development Project, which was first approved in 2008. Among the project's aims is to strengthen planning processes and public financial management to ensure the better delivery of public services and infrastructure, including irrigation projects and other initiatives in the province.
The first component focuses on developing rural infrastructure for poor districts through the District Development Fund, which facilitates post-disaster reconstruction for rural infrastructure damaged by Typhoon Nock-Ten and previous tropical storms. It aims to ensure that reconstruction of infrastructure will increase people's resilience during similar natural disasters in the future.
The second component is aimed at the rehabilitation of additional irrigation schemes along the Xebangfai River. The area is prone to annual natural floods which cause substantial damage to wet season crops and mitigation efforts are therefore critical to people's livelihoods.
The third component is a new addition to the project and is expected to provide rural livelihood assistance and agriculture development activities for the poorest villages in Khammuan province. It includes efforts to strengthen the technical capacity of provincial and district agriculture and forestry offices to manage and support existing activities.
The additional financing of the Khammuan Development Project is a part of comprehensive package that reflects one of the key objectives of the World Bank's Country Partnership Strategy for Laos to assist in inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Natural disasters in Laos come with a high cost. While floods, drought and typhoons are the dominant hazards, the country is also susceptible to landslides and in the north to earthquakes as well. It is estimated that the central and southern regions, where about two thirds of the country's population live, face on average 1.5 serious floods or droughts every year.
Laos experienced unusually harsh floods in 2008 which affected 204,000 people and damaged an estimated 50,000 hectares of land.
The country was hit again by Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 which caused severe damages and losses in the amount of US$58 million.
In 2011, Laos was struck by typhoons Haima and Nock-Ten, causing heavy rain, landslides and flash flooding in the provinces of Phongsaly, Oudomxay, Xieng Khuang, Xayaboury, Huaphan, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Borikhamxay, Khammuan, Savannakhet and Champassak.
A total of 96 districts, 1,790 villages and 429,954 people were affected and 30 people were killed. The total damage was estimated at 1,764 billion kip (US$220 million).
The most affected sectors were agriculture (832 billion kip), transport (564 billion kip), education (four billion kip) and health (1.1 billion kip). It was estimated that about 89,348 hectares of farmland (13 percent of total agricultural land) were affected, the ministry reported.
