The Asian Development Bank on Thursday approved a US$20 million grant and a loan of US$1.8 million equivalent for the Maldives to rehabilitate infrastructure damaged by the Dec. 26 tsunami and restore livelihood.

The grant will be from ADB's Asian Tsunami Fund while the loan will be from the Asian Development Fund, the ADB said in a statement.

The ADB said the assistance consists of two components: a quick disbursing component will help meet the general expenses of tsunami-related rehabilitation and reconstruction; the project component will rehabilitate high-priority, tsunami-damaged infrastructure and facilities by providing civil works, equipment and materials, working capital, and consulting services.

"Recovery needs to be accelerated by reconstructing damaged infrastructure and restoring livelihood, especially of the poor," says Richard Vokes, director of ADB's South Asia Operations Coordination Division.

According to the ADB, one third of the 300,000 Maldivian population has been affected by the tsunami and 39 out of 200 inhabited islands were significantly damaged.

The total damage is estimated to be about US$470 million, nearly 62 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), it said.

The country's GDP growth this year is expected to fall to 1 percent from the pre-tsunami estimate of 7.5 percent and the budget deficit is expected to rise to 15 percent from an expected 4 percent of GDP, it added.

The ADB said that the sectors to be rehabilitated include water supply, transportation, fisheries, and agriculture. The estimated total cost of the project is US$25.3 million equivalent.
 
(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2005)