The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expanding its activities to address water issues in the Asia and Pacific region through a grant package of 3.2 million U.S. dollars, an ADB report said on Friday.

The grant package, the fifth in a series, will continue to finance a coherent program of activities to support ADB's water operations by setting up pilot projects, supporting sector reforms and building knowledge, awareness, cooperation and coordination within and outside the ADB, according to the report.

Phase 5 focuses on putting into practice the experiences gained from the four previous regional technical assistance (RETA) projects in the water sector, said WooChong Um, director for water, energy and transport.

"Under the earlier RETAs, we were able to achieve a lot in terms of raising awareness, establishing partnerships/networks, and demonstrating new and innovative approaches and ideas," he said. "The key difference this time is that we intend to use this RETA to turn some of these new and innovative approaches into expandable projects on the ground."

Activities in Phase 5 will include the building of water partnerships, upgrading the skills of targeted agencies, producing and distributing information, and organizing networking events to disseminate good practices and new approaches.

About 700 million people in the Asia and Pacific region are without safe water supplies and some 2 billion have inadequate or no toilet facilities. In recognition of these issues and to accelerate the region's effort to reach the Millennium Development Goals, ADB's management is giving higher priority to water investments in the medium term through its Water Financing Program 2006-2010.

Source: Xinhua