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| Ambassador's Speech>2010 >101208 | |||||
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| at the Signing Ceremony of Grant Agreements on the Bridge Construction and the Primary School Expansion in the Southern Region On 8 December, 2010 |
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| Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, This is a most pleasant duty for me to sign two grant agreements on grassroots human security projects with prominent project partners in the Southern Region. The first project is the construction of a bridge over the Sala River in the Debub Ari Woreda, South Omo Zone with the funding of USD106000. The project partner is the Debub Ari Woreda, represented by Ato Daniel. The bridge of reinforced concrete is 21m in length and 3.7m in width. In the rainy season this river is often flooded. As a result the traffic across the river is interrupted, which creates great difficulty in daily lives of people living in Wubhamer village and its vicinity. In other words the residents lose their access to markets, the hospital and other social services across the river. This is the reason why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval. I hope that the bridge to be constructed will improve the living conditions of the 26000 residents on both sides of the river. I am sure that with this bridge the residents will be ensured better access to various social services and economic activities will be vitalized across the river throughout the year. The second project, which I would like to introduce here, is the expansion of the Roman Dega Keddia Primary School with the funding of USD101000. The project partner is Gogota Care Kambata Tambaro People’s Development Association – Durame, represented by Ato Asfaw. The Kambata Tambaro Zone is a densely populated area with limited farming land. Food production there is not sufficient to feed the entire population in the area. Therefore, the residents have been looking forward to better educational opportunities for their children so that the young people do not have to rely on agriculture in the future. The current primary school, established in 1977 and expanded two years ago, is already overcrowded with 3250 students. The average number of students per class is more than 100. There is neither a library nor a pedagogic center in school. The dropout rate is fairly high, reaching 20%. The ratio of those who pass nation-wide examinations for G8 is low. These are the reasons why the Embassy of Japan decided to recommend this project to Tokyo for approval. Through this project a block of four classrooms, a block with a library and a pedagogic center, and a block of girls’ latrines will be constructed. Desks, chairs, blackboards, bookshelves and so on will be installed as well. I hope that this project will improve the educational environment, which will in turn provide better opportunities for the young generation in the area. Before I conclude, I would like to remind the two project partners that the projects should be implemented on schedule, with my staff in charge well informed of the progress, and that the benefits of the projects should be enjoyed by people in the local communities. One of the characteristics of GGPs is that projects are directly beneficial to residents. The EOJ will continue to give priority to education and improving living conditions in the rural areas. |
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