The Asian Development Bank Friday signed a two-million-dollar grant to help Vietnam resettle ethnic minority groups due to be displaced by a dam project the bank is funding.
The 267-million-dollar Song Bung 4 Hydropower Project will be built in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin of central Quang Nam province, a remote and poor area home mainly to the indigenous Co Tu minority.
The 156-megawatt dam project is the country's first to be backed by a multilateral development agency, the Manila-based ADB has said.
The new Japanese-funded grant will finance a programme to improve and sustain the livelihoods of the community and people in downstream areas affected by the hydropower project, the bank said.
Affected groups will be trained in growing wet rice, keeping and caring for livestock and shifting to aquaculture and agroforestry, while local officials will also learn about sustainable livelihood development, it said.
"Socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth is a key pillar in ADB's country strategy for Vietnam," said the bank's country chief Ayumi Konishi at the signing ceremony at Nam Giang in Quang Nam.
"The project presents a new way to conduct resettlement by supporting livelihood improvement of affected people on a long-time basis.
"It will demonstrate how resettlement can be considered as a development opportunity particularly for the poor and vulnerable people."
The ADB has lent 196 million dollars for the dam, while the Vietnam Development Bank has provided a 22-million-dollar loan and state-run Vietnam Electricity has contributed 49 million dollars.
