Results for ADB

Solar power for around 197 households on the small island of ‘Uiha in the Ha’apai Group, was tested this week marking an important transition from diesel to solar power generation, ahead of commissioning at the end of the month. The island's two villages, which had only six hours of electricity a day, now enjoy 24 hours a day of 100% renewable power.

USD$5 million funding from the Asian Development Bank will “help restore and accelerate private sector-led economic growth in Tonga after the COVID-19 pandemic”, after the Tonga Government signed a grant agreement with the ADB on Wednesday, 1 December.

The economies of the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga will continue to decline in 2021. “The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst economic crisis in the history of these countries,” said economist James Webb. “While lives have been saved, livelihoods have been lost.” Economic recovery in tourism-dependent Polynesian countries will be slow, says a new ADB report.

A Fiji $2 million grant to help Fiji recover from the devastating impact of Cyclone Yasa was dispatched by the Asian Development Bank on 24 December. Damage assessments indicated that about 93,000 people, or 10% of the population were directly affected.

Australia has provided AUD$2.885 million towards Tonga’s outer islands solar power project, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to help reduce reliance on diesel for power generation.

The difficult issue of how to safely reopen national entry points in six Pacific Islands countries, including Tonga, was discussed today in a second virtual roundtable meeting, convened by the United Nations and Asian Development Bank, as COVID-19 continues to cause wide-spread movement restrictions.

A grant of $460,000 pa'anga from the Asian Development Bank will fund immediate water sanitation and hygiene needs in Tonga, to areas affected by storm surge, among other recovery efforts after Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold in April.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors has unanimously elected Masatsugu Asakawa, as president. He will assume the role on 17 January 2020.

HM KIng Tupou VI unveiled a plaque, at Mata-ki-‘Eua, Tongatapu, yesterday, 3 November, to mark the completion of a USD$16.7 million project that was launched in 2011.