| Part III. | ODA DISBURSEMENTS IN FISCAL YEAR 2002 |
Japan believes that ensuring sustainable economic growth as well
as social development is essential for achieving sustainable poverty reduction
in developing countries. Japan, which achieved post-conflict reconstruction,
had an era when expansion of industry through infrastructure building was the
basis of nation building and the approach of recreating this experience in the
Asian region was the starting point for Japan’s assistance. Based on these
ideas, Japan has been placing importance on promotion of trade and investment
through support for economic sectors such as development of economic foundations,
development of legal systems, and human resources development, and on support
for the economic growth of the recipient country by fostering the private sector
and promoting technology transfer. Japan has been pursuing these policies to
promote economic growth and also carrying out economic and social infrastructure
development, taking into account policies that ensure that the benefits of economic
growth would reach the poor regions and the poorest segments of society.
Support for economic and social infrastructure includes development of transportation,
such as ports and roads, communications, energy, river and irrigation facilities,
and urban and rural living environments. Support for energy is explained in
Part III, and support for the development of rivers and irrigation is explained
in the “Water and Sanitation” section of
the Part III. The following explains transportation infrastructure, communications
infrastructure, and development of the urban and rural living environments.
Transportation infrastructure includes many large-scale items
such as roads, railways, ports, airports, etc. that can be expected to have
long-term economic benefits, so Japan’s financial cooperation is mostly
in the form of loan aid (Japan’s ODA loans). Disbursements in the transportation
sector in fiscal year 2002 consisted of ¥123.7 billion in Japan’s ODA
loans (45% of the total ODA loans by Japan) and approximately ¥27 billion
in grant aid (26.9% of the total grant aid.)
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| The Kizuna Bridge (Cambodia) |
For the Mekong Region Development already introduced in
Part I, Japan is providing support for “the Project for Improvement
of the National Road Route 9 (grant aid)” for Laos, and for a variety of
infrastructure development (roads, bridges, ports, tunnels, etc.) for the “East-West
Corridor” and the “Second East-West Corridor” across the Mekong
region for the economic development of the Indo-China region. In this assistance,
the related government ministries and agencies, such as MOFA and the Ministry
of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, collaborate from the early stages of
each project to carry out Project Formulation Studies, development studies,
dispatch of experts, etc. and implement highly effective projects utilizing
Japan’s experience and technology. The bridge across the Mekong river in
Cambodia completed in 2002 using Japan’s assistance was given a Japanese
name: the Kizuna Bridge and can be said to be not only the embodiment of the
strengthening of economic partnership within the Mekong region but also a symbol
of the deepening of friendly relations both within the Mekong region and between
Japan and the Mekong region.
Concerning communications infrastructure, Japan is providing assistance,
etc. for the development of the foundations of communications, such as cable,
wireless, satellite, etc., and development of facilities related to media such
as telephones, radio, television, the Internet, etc. For example, Japan has
decided to provide ODA loans for Viet Nam’s “North-South Submarine
Fiber Optic Cable Link Project” which aims to improve the reliability of
communications facilities and meet the increase in demand for communications
by planning to construct approximately 2,000 kilometers of seabed fiber-optic
cable and 11 landing stations between Haiphong and Soc Trang. Concerning grant
aid, Japan has decided to provide financing for “the Project for Improvement
of Shortwave Radio Broadcasting Network,” which has the objective of ensuring
means to provide information in Mongolia, which has a huge national territory,
and for “the Project for Improvement of Broadcasting Equipment for Television
of the Republic of Indonesia (TVRI) Makassar Station,” which has the objective
of integrating and modernizing Indonesia, a multiethnic state. The characteristic
features of both these projects are that they have great public benefits and
many people benefit from them.
Japan is also providing communications-related assistance utilizing cultural
grant aid. For example, Japan is supporting the supply of TV programs to Television
Malawi in Malawi, providing broadcast-related and editing equipment, etc. to
television and radio stations. Japan is contributing to the dissemination of
the culture of the recipient country and of Japan widely among the people, and
providing other kinds of communications-related assistance.
Concerning IT-related assistance, refer for details.
Japan’s direct assistance for the development of the urban
and rural living environments includes supports for development of educational
and health facilities and equipment for stable and sanitary water supplies.
In addition to development of economic infrastructure, assistance for the development
of social infrastructure improves the social aspects of people’s lives
and contributes to the reduction of disparities within developing countries,
so it plays an important role in achieving sustainable economic growth in developing
countries, as well as the development of economic infrastructure. The status
of implementation of social infrastructure development is described in
Part III in the section entitled “Assistance for the Poverty Countermeasures
and Social Development Sector.”
In the transportation infrastructure sector, Japan is not only providing assistance
contributing to urban development, but is also providing assistance that contributes
to rural development, such as development of roads and landslide control measures,
etc. for poverty reduction and to reduce regional disparities, and is implementing
projects that spread the benefit of assistance to poor regions and the poor
segment of society. For instance, Japan is providing support for the “Small-Scale
Pro Poor Infrastructure Development Project” in Viet Nam, the “Provincial
Road Improvement Project” in Sri Lanka and other projects with ODA loans.
The first of these projects aims to improve access by the poor of basic infrastructure
and to achieve poverty reduction in the regional rural areas of Viet Nam by
developing small-scale infrastructure in those areas. The second of these projects
carries out repair of regional roads and bridges with the objectives of upgrading
mobility in the Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces by upgrading the cursoriality
of vehicles, revitalizing regional economic activities, and promoting regionally
harmonized development. Japan is also using grant aid to support, for example,
the “Le Projet de Developpement d’un Village de pêche à Sidi Hsaine”
in Morocco and carrying out cooperation, including development of fishing port
facilities.
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| Lima-Callao Metropolitan Area Water and Sewerage Improvement Project (Photo: Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)) |
The above mainly explained economic and social infrastructure
development through financial cooperation. In order to develop this infrastructure
based on an appropriate development policy in developing countries and to appropriately
manage and operate it, it is indispensable to develop human resources. A wide
range of assistance through technical cooperation is being carried out, including
formulation of urban planning and national land planning, training of technicians
to operate and manage the infrastructure facilities that have been built, provision
of the equipment necessary for management and operation, and development studies.
In order to facilitate the economic activities of developing countries, facilitation
of traffic—the flow of people and goods—through transportation infrastructure
assistance and intellectual assistance, such as institution and rule building
for the development of the trade and investment environment are important. As
assistance for trade and investment-related institution development, Japan has
been providing “soft” assistance mainly to the Asian region through
the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Association for Overseas Technical
Scholarship (AOTS), etc. The assistance includes the development of standards
and certification systems needed to disseminate intellectual property rights
institutions and promote industrial competitiveness, and human resources development
designed to improve efficiency of distribution systems. Specifically, concerning
the development of intellectual property rights institutions, Japan has provided
assistance to increase the efficiency of office processing at the Viet Nam and
Malaysia intellectual property rights agencies and to strengthen the functions
of private intellectual property promotion organizations in Thailand. Concerning
assistance for standards and certification systems, Japan has provided assistance
for the dispatch of experts and for the acceptance of trainees in the various
sectors of standardization, standardized evaluation and standardized measures
based on the “Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Standardization
and Certification Cooperation Program.” Concerning the efficiency of distribution,
Japan has also provided assistance for training in logistics7, unit
load8, etc. and for the dispatch of experts in distribution to private
organizations in Thailand and Viet Nam. Provided together with infrastructure
assistance, this kind of assistance through trade-related technical cooperation
contributes to the development of the trade and investment environment in the
developing countries eventually leading to the promotion of economic activity
between Japan and developing countries.
7. Development of comprehensive
mechanisms for more efficient distribution. Includes production management,
information management, etc.
8. Cargo gathered as a unit on one pallet
or in one container for the sake of mechanization, labor-saving, speed, prevention
of damage to the goods, etc.