The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

The government of Japan has approved Taka 102 crore as Japan Debt Relief Grant Assistance Counterpart Fund for the project "Reconstruction of Houses Damaged by Sidr 2007 in the Coastal District of Bangladesh".

The assistance was approved following a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management to the Embassy of Japan through economic relations division, ministry of finance, a press release said here on Monday.

The objective of the project is to reconstruct houses for one lakh people in eight districts.

The districts are Barguna, Bagherhat, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Barisal, Bhola, Jhalakhati and Satkira, considered to be the worst affected area by Sidr.

The support will help the cyclone-affected people return to their normal life and reduce vulnerability to any future natural disaster, the release added.

The government of Japan had earlier provided relief materials worth US dollar 370,000, grant assistance worth US dollar 3.7 million through World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) and US Dollar 65 million ODA loan for disaster damage rehabilitation.

In addition, Japan has already started the assessment procedure for construction of additional cyclone shelters in affected area.

Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue hoped that the Japan's assistance will contribute to the great improvement of the quality of life of Sidr-affected people in the area.