Agriculture and Natural Resources
Seven projects totaling $199 million were approved for (i) agriculture in Afghanistan; (ii) irrigation projects in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Nepal, and Tajikistan; (iii) decentralized rural infrastructure and livelihood in Nepal; (iv) gender equality and empowerment of women in Nepal; and (v) sustainable livelihoods in Pakistan. In addition, 46 technical assistance grants totaling $27 million were approved. Regional technical assistance supported the Water for the Poor-Partnership for Action pilot test in six provinces in the central region of Viet Nam. A ninth umbrella regional technical assistance project for $3 million was approved for research to reduce postharvest losses of vegetables, to improve staple crop yields, and to address water shortages and land degradation.
ADB continued its partnerships and networking with international research centers. In addition, two regional workshops were held to improve the effectiveness of agricultural research in Central and South Asia. In Bangkok, ADB, the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) hosted a regional roundtable on eradicating poverty and promoting food security. ADB also organized the International Year of Rice with the Government of the Philippines.
EducationLoans of $278 million funded 9 projects in 8 countries, and 3 multisector projects totaling $39 million were funded to rehabilitate schools in conflict areas. A $45 million loan to Cambodia supported a sector-wide approach for educational reforms with the donor community. Loans totaling $184 million supported teacher education in Bangladesh, school modernization in Sri Lanka, textbook development in Uzbekistan, and school reform in Viet Nam. Loans totaling $47 million upgraded the skills of postsecondary young adults in rural Nepal and provided technical education, especially to women’s polytechnics in Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan.
ADB supported programs in the Mekong to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and focused on the need for human resource development in Central Asia to make the subregion internationally competitive. ADB worked closely in Bangkok with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNESCAP and with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization to plan the direction of basic education programs, cooperated with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangkok in promoting programbased approaches, and worked with the World Bank to strengthen Education for All fast-track initiatives. ADB will assist ADB Institute with e-learning technologies to improve school quality especially in rural communities.
EnergySix projects totaling $857.4 million in loans, equity investments, and partial credit guarantees were approved for electricity, natural gas, and coal mine methane capture in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), India, and Viet Nam. A $400 million loan for upgrading India’s national power grid will help provide electricity to all households by 2012. A private sector loan and equity investment in a 1,095-megawatt gas-fired combinedcycle power plant will provide additional electricity to the state of Gujarat in India at a competitive price and in an environmentally and financially sustainable manner. With a $120 million loan, the expansion and upgrading of 500 and 220 kilovolt transmission systems will be implemented in Hanoi, Haiphong, and Quang Ninh to help mitigate power shortages in Viet Nam.
FinanceADB approved six loans for a total of $337.5 million for five projects. A $200 million financing facility without government guarantee will provide long-term peso-denominated loans to private sector borrowers via mainly international banks in the Philippines. In Sri Lanka, a program loan supports policy reforms that develop financial markets and strengthen the banking system. ADB also continued its support for the Government of Viet Nam’s efforts to develop nonbank financial intermediation channels.
ADB invested a total of $15.6 million in four financial institutions: Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia, the Afghanistan International Bank, the Shenzhen Orienwise Guarantee and Investment Co. Ltd. in the PRC, and the Local Government Unit Guarantee Corporation in the Philippines. In addition, ADB’S first-ever equity investment in the microfinance industry was $2.5 million in ShoreCap International Fund, an investment fund targeting financially viable and growth-oriented microfinance institutions. Investments of up to $135 million in four private equity funds were also approved as were 22 technical assistance grants totaling $12.6 million, six of which were regional totaling $2.6 million. These grants include assistance for strengthening the payment and settlement system in Bhutan, for establishing a well-functioning, secured transaction framework in Vanuatu, for strengthening governance of the securities trading market in the Philippines, for strengthening microfinance operations in Timor-Leste, for developing a framework and microfinance regulations in Azerbaijan, and for a Southeast Asian workers’ remittance study.
Health, Nutrition, and Social ProtectionThree projects totaling $273 million were approved. Loans to the Philippines support comprehensive reforms in health care financing and health governance with investments in selected provinces. Loans to Uzbekistan and Viet Nam focused on improving services and access to primary health care. Multisector projects in Pakistan supported rehabilitating and improving health services and in Sri Lanka included restoration of basic health infrastructure in conflict areas. In addition, technical assistance funds supported 12 new projects including food safety in the PRC, urban nutrition in Indonesia, psychosocial health in Sri Lanka, strengthening ADB’s response to HIV/AIDS, decentralization in health, and the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and other emerging diseases.
ADB maintained its partnership with WHO to deal with SARS and other infectious diseases. On HIV/AIDS, ADB collaborated with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to assess the economic impact of the epidemic in the region. The results were presented in the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. ADB also worked with the Swedish International Development Agency on a special fund expected to be functioning in 2005.
Industry and TradeFive loans for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development for a total of $130 million will expand access to resources and international markets in Bangladesh and will facilitate reforms of business registration and licensing systems and the overall SME policy framework in Cambodia and Viet Nam. ADB also approved an equity investment of up to $10 million in the Shenzhen Orienwise Guarantee and Investment Co. Ltd. for SME loans and 11 technical assistance grants totaling $6.8 million for SME development.
In 2004, ADB trade assistance included two loans amounting to $18.2 million for regional customs modernization and infrastructure development in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. In addition, four technical assistance grants supported capacity building and institutional strengthening for customs modernization in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, for trade and investment creation in India, and for developing industrial standards in the Lao PDR.
Law, Economic Management, and Public PolicyEleven loans to India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam totaled $584.4 million in 2004. Programs funded included public resource management in Assam, India; reform of the state audit sector in Indonesia; resource management in Balochistan, Pakistan; fiscal management reform in Sri Lanka; and support for poverty reduction in Viet Nam. An additional $57.1 million was provided for technical assistance.
Transport and CommunicationsEighteen loans totaling $2.0 billion were approved for 17 projects. In India, a $400 million loan supported the second national highway project, provided capacity building, and implemented a road safety zone and a program to raise awareness of the risk of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. A $301.2 million loan developed roads in North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan as part of an integrated program of institutional and policy reforms. In the PRC, three road projects and one railway project will help less-developed, poor areas get better access to markets, services, and jobs.
Loans also supported airport rehabilitation and improvement of the Andkhoy-Qaisar road in Afghanistan; the Chittagong Port trade facilitation project in Bangladesh; road projects in Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, and Mongolia; and the community water transport project in Papua New Guinea. A $15 million technical assistance loan for the road project preparatory facility in Sri Lanka was also approved. Thirty-four technical assistance projects totaling $18.6 million were approved including five for regional technical assistance. A grant of $2.2 million for Cambodia will support the introduction of labor-based technologies for maintenance of the national road network. ADB also loaned $50 million for two private sector projects to support the expansion of telecommunication services in the Grameen phone project in Bangladesh and to improve access to mobile and rural community phone services in Afghanistan.
Water Supply, Sanitation, and Waste ManagementOne project in Azerbaijan on urban water supply and sanitation was financed through a $30 million loan that will benefit 147 residential users, industries, and the business sector in three secondary towns. A multisector project in Bangladesh combines river protection with drainage and basic sanitation services in nine secondary towns. A multisector project in the PRC on soil conservation and rural development supported rural water supply, and two multisector projects in India and Pakistan for Jammu and Kashmir supported urban water supply and sanitation. In addition to these loans, technical assistance supported 17 new projects in urban water supply, wastewater, solid waste management, storm water/flood management, and drainage.
ADB Water Week 2004 was held in Manila, and President Chino presented the 2004 Water Prize to the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority in Cambodia for excellence in governance and financing. ADB’s water awareness program continued its outreach to the media with five workshops for journalists in India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia.
The Water for Asian Cities program with UN-HABITAT supported capacity building. ADB maintained its membership in the Cities Alliance to allow access to resources for development strategies and to key decision makers. In 2004, membership facilitated the approval of a Philippine project proposal amounting to $500,000; three additional project proposals are in the pipeline.