The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance signed some $99 million in grant and loan agreements for three development projects yesterday.

The loans will partly finance the Rural Roads Improvement Project II, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector Development Program, and the Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project.

The six-year, roads-improvement project, which aims to pave 729 kilometres of rural roads in nine provinces, will receive $66 million in financing.

ADB is also providing a $30 million loan for the TVET program expansion, while $2.5 million will be poured into introducing disaster-management planning support for 54 communes in six Cambodian provinces.

“These initiatives will improve the quality of life for poor and vulnerable people … in the country,” said ADB country director Eric Sidgwick.