Japan grants USD 3.64 m aid to Serbian municipalities

BELGRADE - Japan will provide a USD 3.64 million grant this year to step up disaster prevention in municipalities across Serbia.

Various activities within the project are aimed at improving safety at a local level, the Embassy of Japan said in a release on Wednesday.

The project is to be carried out by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in close partnership with the state and local authorities, in the period between March 2015 and February 2016, the release states.

The project focuses on communities in at least 27 Serbian municipalities, with a total of 1.3 million people, which the government of Serbia identified as most affected by the devastating floods last year.

The financial support from Japan is planned to cover the costs of small-scale infrastructure projects - repair and improvement of water supply systems, waste water treatment and sewer system upgrade, and improvement of public utility infrastructure damaged in the floods.

The project also includes support to municipalities in the preparation of project technical documentation for large scale infrastructure investments.

This includes landslide repair works and enhancing operational disaster risk management capacity at a local level, in line with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, as well as support to NGOs focusing on the inclusion of women in disaster risk management and planning.

Japan presented the concept of human security as the guiding principle of its Official Development Assistance (ODA), which is actively promoted in cooperation with UNDP.

Continue reading on: