Disaster recovery

The Ministry of Planning and Coordination will coordinate implementation. The project will focus on road rehabilitation, potable water and irrigation activities, and distribution of fertilizer and medicines. The National Road Service will rehabilitate the flood-damaged Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway, a key link between southeast and highland Bolivia. Efforts will include river protection walls, slide stabilization, roadbed rehabilitation, and replacement of the 90 m Taruma Bridge and 5 smaller bridges. In Phase II, the Inter-American Development Bank will finance blacktopping of the road. To increase water supply and food production in drought-affected areas: (1) municipal authorities will rehabilitate water systems in Potosi and Sucre; (2) CARE, working with Departmental Development Corporations (DDC"s) in Chuquisaca, Potosi, and Oruro but independently in La Paz, will construct 80 rural potable water systems, serving 5,000 farm families, and 30 small irrigation systems covering some 3,000 ha; and (3) the DDC"s will implement 10-15 small/medium irrigation projects. Because a lack of foreign exchange has severely restricted fertilizer imports, the project will fund importation of 3,000 MT of fertilizer, to be sold through cooperatives and DDC"s in drought areas. Revenues will capitalize a revolving credit fund in the National Federation of Savings and Loan Cooperatives (FENACRE). Finally, A.I.D. will contribute $1 million to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Public Health"s rotating fund for medicine imports and will help the Ministry improve its drug distribution system. Special pricing policies will ensure access to medicines by the rural poor while precluding fund decapitalization. TA, equipment, construction materials, and training will be provided. Amendment of 5/4/81 funds: imports of agricultural inputs; support costs of USAID/B"s Disaster Assistance Program (DAP); and additional costs of road and water system construction. Local currency proceeds from sale of the inputs will support development activities (especially in drought-affected regions) and local DAP costs. (PD-AAW-612) Amendment of 9/20/84 funds: imports of machinery, spare parts, and raw materials to help reactivate private agro-industries; and additional TA, in procurement and other areas. (PD-AAR-130) Amendment of 11/13/85 directs $10 million previously reserved for agro-industrial imports to fund agricultural production credit through the Central Bank for the 1985-86 crop season. (PD-AAS-885)