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Aid for NE: Govt must repay all loans, says World Bank
By Feizal Samath
The World Bank said yesterday it would be the Sri Lankan government's responsibility to repay whatever money the bank lent for reconstruction and development work in northeast areas controlled by the LTTE.

"As far as the World Bank is concerned, any money we give would be as a loan undertaken by the sovereign people of Sri Lanka. That loan will be on the balance sheet of the government of Sri Lanka as a debt to the World Bank," Mieko Nishimizu, the visiting World Bank Vice President for South Asia, told The Sunday Times.

Clarifying the role of the World Bank on its disbursement of funds in LTTE-areas, the bank's South Asian head noted that the funds would be disbursed to organisations legally accepted by the government. "If the LTTE has been accepted as a legal entity by the government, we have no problems with that."

Ms. Nishimizu, concluding a whirlwind one-week tour of Sri Lanka's northern and southern regions, said the bank had accepted an invitation to run the global Trust Fund that would engage in northeast development with the use of donor funds. "We have conveyed our decision to both the government and LTTE leaders," she said, after visits to Jaffna and Kilinochchi - where she met Tamil rebel leaders - and Hambantota.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview in Colombo, the World Bank vice president discussed a range of issues including the need to speed up the peace dividend; lack of governance and transparency; the need for better communication on the peace process; a highly politicised media focusing too much on the north and ignoring the south; and the central role that women should play in the northeast reconstruction process.

Ms. Nishimizu was amazed at the transformation taking place in northern towns like Chavakachcheri and Killinochci for instance where shops were filled with goods and lots of people were moving around. "The buildings - earlier only rubble and roads have been repaired. The private sector is making things happen. The farmers are out and growing. Its like any other town.

"The people want peace. That's what I gathered from many whom I spoke to. The poor spoke with a lot of trust and faith in the World Bank and that it would help. We will honour that trust," she said, stressing, however, that civilians should be the main drivers of development and not depend solely on governments or donors except to kickstart a process.

Ms. Nishimizu urged the government to put a proper coordinated system in place in the reconstruction process. "We keep asking the same question - is there a proper coordinated effort by the government on this issue? In Colombo for example, there are 17 state agencies involved in reconstruction work. Who is going to coordinate what?"

Can one trust the LTTE? "That's a difficult question to answer because this was my first meeting with some of their leaders. But it is a question every Sri Lankan is asking. People will be convinced about the intention of both sides only by the way of action and accumulated action on the peace front."

She said there was lack of information for the people on everything including the peace process and if the people need convincing on the process, then the government must resort to effective communication strategies to keep the people informed all the time.

She said Sri Lanka's economy could grow easily by 10 per cent annually (compared to 4-5 per cent over the past two decades) if there was peace coupled with good economic reforms. "Without peace Sri Lanka will not grow as fast it should. This is a chance that Sri Lankans cannot afford to lose from the point of being a dynamic economy where everyone is happy and contented."

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