The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged additional US$500 million to the tsunami relief effort, the ADB said Friday.

The new aid package was announced by ADB president Tadao Chino at a summit of world leaders in Jakarta Thursday.

The US$500 million would be provided to Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka "in the form of grants and highly concessional funds," the Manila-based ADB said in a statement.

In addition, more resources, estimated at around US$175 million, would be made available through reallocations from existing aid programs to these countries, the ADB added.

"We will make every effort to ensure these funds are rapidly and effectively disbursed for priority projects and programs," Chino said.

"We are also in discussion with other affected countries to determine their needs for assistance," Chino added.   

The ADB is also prepared to lead and fund a one-million-dollar study to develop a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean.

The ADB is prepared to "provide significant additional funding to help longer-term reconstruction," he added.

On Dec. 31, 2004, the ADB announced that up to US$325 million will be made immediately available in response to requests from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives to help finance priority reconstruction and rehabilitation work following the tsunami disaster on Dec. 26.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2005)