ADB aid for flood victims

The board of directors of the African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of US $500,000 for emergency relief to flood victims in The Gambia. The Technical Assistance Fund (TAF) grant, which was approved in July, is to help communities that suffered damage from flooding between June and August last year. At least 27,000 people, mainly farmers and their families, were affected by the floods which damaged roads and bridges in the Central River and Upper River divisions of the country. The ADB project aims mainly to rehabilitate the agricultural infrastructure, supply the agricultural inputs needed to produce food and provide safe drinking water. Rehabilitation will include repairing dykes and spillways in the lowlands of the worst affected areas. The project will also involve the purchase of long floating rice seeds and other inputs as well as the rehabilitation of 35 wells and treatment of 116 others. ADB began operating in The Gambia in 1971. Since then, it has committed US $240.87 million on 38 operations, out of which about US $172.17 million have been disbursed.