The rich minerals in Madagascar may have attracted the Chinese who have signed four deals worth roughly $78 million for hotel construction and debt alleviation among other things, Malagasy officials said.The deals confirmed agreements made at the China-Africa summit in Beijing last November between the Asian powerhouse and the enormous, mineral-rich island.
"The deals cover partial debt cancellation, an agreement on economic and technical cooperation, a preferential loan for the construction of a five-star hotel, and finally a deal for a donation of medicines," said Misa Irodia, director of bilateral cooperation at the ministry of foreign affairs.
Also, the World Bank has approved a $40 million loan, the first in a series of loans to help the Malagasy government with its new poverty reduction plan, the Bank said in a statement.The Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) aims to cut poverty rates to 50 percent by 2012 from 85.1 percent four years ago, and to achieve growth rates of 8 to 10 percent by 2012.
The Bank said the loan is part of a new batch of three poverty reduction support credits of $40 million each going to support the country's budget.
"The programme is consistent with the Bank's new five year 2007-2011 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) estimated at $700 million to support the implementation of the government's poverty reduction strategy," the bank said in its statement late mid August.
Meanwhile, Malagasy authorities have destroyed 137 houses and expect to knock down more ahead of next month's Indian Ocean Games, an official said Antananarivo. ‘We have had to demolish 137 houses in Ampefiloha (a city district) because they were in front of the Olympic swimming pool," he told Reuters in an interview. "These people have built houses on land where they did not have any permission."