Cyclone Relief Group Launches 3-Year Recovery Plan

The Tripartite Core Group (TCG) of Burma has a 3-year recovery and preparedness plan and will seek US $691 million to continue the Cyclone Nargis relief effort, it announced at a donor conference in Bangkok on Monday.

The Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan (PONREPP) “provides a platform for the transition from emergency relief and early recovery towards medium-term recovery and for guiding those efforts across eight operational sectors,” the TCG said in a press statement.

TCG chairman Kyaw Thu said in a press release, “PONREPP results from that collaboration, having been commissioned by the Tripartite Core Group which has guided and facilitated the post-cyclone relief and recovery efforts, as well as promoting complementarities between the Government’s reconstruction plan and the PONREPP.”

Kyaw Thu was recently transferred as deputy minister of foreign affairs to become the head of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board (CSSTB). Although Kyaw Thu remains as the chairman of the TCG, he did not attend the press conference yesterday.

Analysts said his new post, even though at the ministerial level, is not considered an active position and could reflect displeasure with Kyaw Thu or with his work at the TCG.

“If the regime liked him and wanted to promote him, he could have been shifted within the foreign ministry,” said Win Min, a Burmese analyst in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “We must wait and see what will happen next with the TCG projects.”

The international aid community has praised the work of the TCG and relief agencies are hopeful that cooperation with the Burmese government can be extended to aid projects in other areas of the country.

After launching the TCG recovery plan, one of the main donors to the aid effort, the European Commission (EC), announced it welcomed the new plan. The EC provided 39 million Euro (US $50 million) for the initial Nargis recovery project in 2008.

“Better cooperation between the [Burmese] government and the donor community has contributed to saving lives and preventing human suffering,” EC Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. 

“By ensuring continuity in the coordination and planning of recovery efforts the international community gives a clear sign that we stand by the side of the Burmese people who have been hit hard by Cyclone Nargis,” he said.

The TCG was established on May 31, 2008, comprising high-level representatives from the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations and the Burmese regime.

Meanwhile, a private journal in Rangoon, The Voice Weekly, reported on Monday that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided $750,000 for an anti-bird flu project in Burma. Last year, USAID granted $500,000 for bird flu projects.   

The US provided more than $49 million in humanitarian aid to Burma in 2008, according to the USAID Web site.