ReliefWeb

Posted by Global New Light of Myanmar Date: November 29, 2016

Germany is the first partner of Myanmar to support projects of rural roads construction. In addition to the previously committed EUR 28.2 million grant funds under the programme “Road Development Programme”, the German Government provides an additional EUR 10 million after the flooding in 2015. In 2015, from July until September, Cyclone Komen caused heavy rainfall and flooding and destroyed many roads, bridges, and culverts in almost all states in Myanmar. Thus, Germany saw the urgent need for further road development grants and committed an additional EUR 10 million for the rehabilitation of 50 km of roads, including bridges and culverts, in one of the four most affected regions in Myanmar – in Kalay district in Sagaing region.

Accessible roads and bridges are essential in order to access schools, health care facilities, markets, places of employment, and public administrations. Hence, through RRRP the living standard of the rural population living in the project region will improve by gaining all year access to these facilities. Moreover, for the people living in and traveling through that region transport cost will decrease and journey times will shorten.

The Department of Rural Development (DRD) within the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is responsible for implementation of the project. Additionally, the DRD is trained in road maintenance, planning, procurement and supervision to deepen essential capacities for the successful handling of road construction projects.

KfW Development Bank

KfW Bankengruppe (KfW), one of the world’s leading and most experienced promotional bank, provides a range of products to support its customers in realizing their projects in the domestic fields of small and medium-sized enterprises, business start-ups, environmental protection, housing, infrastructure, education as well as project and export finance and development cooperation. As the bank is wholly owned by the German Government it is rated AAA and with a balance sheet total of more than EUR 500 billion (approx. USD 570 billion) it is one of Germany’s largest banks. B Alongside KfW Development Bank, the two subsidiaries KfW IPEX-Bank and DEG also have commitments abroad: while KfW IPEX-Bank is active in international project and export finance, DEG provides financing and consulting to companies investing in developing and emerging countries. KfW Development Bank cooperates closely with the German Technical Cooperation agency GIZ, as well as other bilateral and multilateral organizations.