The Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan has formally released the first payment of the “2014 ROC funding support to the Solomon Islands government.
This amount catered for the 50 MPs constituencies and the remaining 2013 ROC Funding support (covering 20 constituencies against their acquittal report).
The funding support in the total amount SBD$22.5M was presented to Hon. Gordon Darcy Lilo, Prime Minister by H.E. Victor Te-Sun Yu, Ambassador of the ROC last Thursday.
A statement from ROC said there are three installment payments for 2014 ROC Funding including ROC Support to Constituency Development (RSCD), ROC Constituency Micro-Project Fund (RCMPF), and Millennium Development Fund (MDF) in every installment payment.
“Based on mutual agreement between the two countries, the S.I. Ministry of Rural Development will submit acquittal reports to the Embassy of ROC prior to the above installment payments to ensure accountability and transparency in use of ROC funds.
“The ROC government released this first funding in response to the requests from Hon Prime Minister in the wake of flash flooding in April, partly as a relief effort to help people and families impacted rebuild their shattered and battered homes and gardens as well as assist constituencies to construct needed capacities against any future flooding or other nature disasters,” the statement said.
Ambassador Yu said as one of the best friends of Solomon Islands, the people and government of ROC Taiwan also made donation in cash and in kind worth SDB$ 2 Million to the NDMO, and also provided fresh water, food, rice, vegetable, and medical service to various evacuation centers.
The Ambassador said he hope the funding will really contribute to the alleviation of the impact and help people improve the quality of their life. Ambassador Yu assured that: “the government of the ROC Taiwan will always stand by in time of need and do what it can to assist and support the people of Solomon Islands”.