May 10, 2002	Friday	Safar 26, 1423

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GILGIT, May 9: Since its inception in 1989, the Grassroots Assistance (GRA) scheme has funded a total of $8.3 million to 172 projects throughout the country of which 24 projects are based in Northern Areas.

Japanese diplomat Tamotsu Shinotsuka said this, while inaugurating the Al-Sabah Sakura Academy in Sonikot here on Thursday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Mr Shinotsuka said the academy had been constructed with the support of the government of Japan trough its Grassroots Assistance programme.

The GRA scheme is intended to ameliorate the less privileged communities all over Pakistan by providing adequate funds for small-scale social sector development projects.

Mr Shinotsuka said Japan provided a grant of $33,696 for the construction of Al-Sabah Sakura Academy in Gilgit to provide education to children, and expressed the hope that the academy would uplift the social sector in the region.

He said he had handed over a grant contract worth $408,532 to the officials concerned for the Karimabad Environmental Sanitation Project, Phase-II, under which sanitation facilities were being provided to the inhabitants of 11 settlements of Hunza.

He added that in total, the Japanese government provided a sum of $600,000 to the project, which was the largest assistance to any project funded under the GRA programme.