At project appraisal in 2007, 35% of Samoa’s population worked overseas and remittances constituted 17% of the gross national income. Because of this, the government deemed it important to introduce the use of information and communication technology (ICT) at secondary education level.
In 2006, only about 46% of Viet Nam’s rural population had access to clean water, and water was not available throughout the year. About 83% had latrines, but only 48% of these were hygienic, by government standards. Knowledge of individual sanitation remained poor.
During project appraisal in 2008, only 33% Nepal’s households were being served with grid electricity, and the country could not generate adequate power to meet the demand. Nepal’s hydropower generation potential alone is estimated at 43,000 megawatt (MW) but the total installed generation capacity was only 615 MW in 2008.
Accounting for 30% of Viet Nam’s natural forest area in 2005, the Central Highlands Region is a biodiversity hotspot and the watershed of several important rivers. However, it was also the country’s second poorest region at the time, with poverty levels as high as 57% among ethnic minority groups that made up 23% of its population.
Following the recession triggered by the 2009 global financial crisis, Armenia’s infrastructure public spending fell sharply, causing further deterioration of the country’s road and water assets and services. To help address the situation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved in August 2014 a $49 million concessional loan from the Asian Development Fund for Armenia’s Infrastructure Sustai
