Japan grants $346,000 to rural China's schools, hospitals

Asian Economic News, March 21, 2005

BEIJING, March 16 Kyodo

Japan will give about $346,000 in grant money to two hospitals, an elementary school and a reservoir project in poor parts of rural China, the Japanese Embassy has said.

As part of the so-called grassroots human security grant aid, a segment of Japan's official development assistance to China, the embassy said Monday it had chosen these projects at the request of local governments.

The biggest grant, $90,907, will go to a hospital in the coal-dependent city of Datong, Shanxi Province.

Average annual income in the hospital's district is 780 yuan (about $94), and the hospital lacks resources to treat lung diseases, an embassy statement says.

Another $90,786 in aid money will restore a 31-year-old elementary school in Jinzhong, also Shanxi Province.

Rains have caused the school to sink into the ground, posing a danger to the 203 students and 15 teachers. Jinzhong's annual per capita income is 1,000 yuan.

The school principal, surnamed Bai, said students can still attend class but that parts of the school are hard to access. She said the grant would recover the school by the fall semester. ''We really welcome this contribution,'' she said.

The rest of the aid goes to Qinghai Province. People's Hospital in Huangyuan County, where annual income averages 1,259 yuan, will receive $79,600 for new equipment.

The hospital handles 1,000 cases a year but lacks basic equipment such as X-ray machines, the embassy statement says.

A village in Qinghai's Guide County will receive $84,813 to build a reservoir and a pipeline for drinking water. Residents now use cattle to carry water from a polluted river, the statement says. Average village income is 1,478 yuan per year.

Also for 2005, Japan has approved three grassroots human security projects in Yunnan Province, three in Sichuan Province and two in Guizhou Province, all in the less developed western region.

The 2005 allocation is shaping up to be about equal to those of 2002, 2003 and 2004, an embassy staff member said.