Asian Development Bank (ADB) disbursed 94 percent of its total loans projected for Bangladesh in 2004, according to a report released by the bank yesterday.

The report titled "Asian Development Bank and Bangladesh: Overview of 2004

Operations" disclosed that the bank disbursed a total of $176.1 million last year.

However in 2005, ADB is planning to provide a further $705 million in eight projects.

In 2004, the bank approved about $230 million in lending assistance for Bangladesh in four projects. A further $43 million in cofinancing was mobilised from other donours for these projects.

The projects are-- Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development Programme ($50 million), Teaching Quality Improvement For Secondary Education Project ($68.9 million), Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection-Phase 2 Project ($80 million) and Chittagong Port Trade Facilitation Project ($30.6 million).

Among the projects, the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development Programme will help to strengthen the policy environment for SMEs and improve their access to credit and support services, enable the sector to attain its full potential for contributing to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.

The teaching quality improvement for Secondary Education Project will help to raise education levels in secondary schools through a reform of Bangladesh's teacher training system.

The Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection-Phase 2 Project will protect nine secondary towns from the devastating effects of floods and Chittagong Port Trade Facilitation Project will help increase the capacity of Bangladesh's main port and enable it to meet international port security and environmental standards.

In addition, an emergency loan amounting to $180 million for Flood Damage Rehabilitation was also approved by ADB in 2004, the report said.

It further said that a total of $6.2 million in grant assistance was approved in 2004 for 11 technical assistance projects.

In the current year, ADB is planning to provide $705 million in eight projects that includes provision of urban primary health care in six city corporations and five municipalities, projects supporting agribusiness development, integrated water resource management in the southwestern region of Bangladesh, social protection of disadvantaged women and children, financial markets governance improvement, investments and support to the reforms in the railway sector and gas sector development.