Amid criticism from local companies that it acted too slow, the government has approved 16 projects to help rebuild Southeast Asia after the disastrous tsunami that devastated it 10 months ago, claiming over 230,000 lives.

"Our goal was to support long-term projects that are not part of immediate humanitarian aid," said Martin Tlapa, deputy industry and trade minister, who coordinated the aid.

The projects selected will help rebuild water treatment, health care and water facilities in the region over the next year. To pay for the projects, the government will release 188 million Kč ($7.6 million) to fund 30 percent of each project's costs. The remaining 70 percent will be covered by the Sri Lankan and Indonesian governments.

Companies approved for the project hailed the government's action but complained there is no reason for it to have waited so long.

"I really don't understand why it took the government so long to approve the projects," said Pavel Kostka, owner and general director of EGO Zlín, a south Moravia-based company that had been shortlisted to carry out two projects. "It has been 10 months since the tsunami happened. Who comes up with help a year later?"

Jaroslav Reif, a foreign-relations manager at Brno-based Geotest Brno, feels the same way.

His company will receive government support to build drinking water sources for local residents and refugee camps in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

"We were hoping that the approval process would go faster. The ministry was promising that in September all projects would be approved. [Even in] October, no progress had been made," Reif said, adding that other donor countries, including Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and the United States, released funds within weeks of the calamity.

Chosen to help

According to Tlapa, however, it was impossible for the government to move faster. It not only had to evaluate 30 projects submitted by Czech companies to determine feasibility, financial planning, schedules and knowledge of the area but also to ensure each addressed the countries' most pressing problems.

"We wanted to support only those projects that are in line with the affected countries' real needs and those companies that have a solid knowledge of the area," he said.

In addition, he said, each company was required to submit references of successful implementation of similar projects in the past. Both Geotest Brno and EGO Zlín stressed that they carried out thorough field research in the affected areas before coming up with the projects.

EGO Zlín was approved to create a mobile hospital designed to provide first aid to people affected by the calamity and a biological defense system for treating people affected by a pandemic or other kinds of natural disasters.

Owner Kostka scoffs at the government's excuses.

He said most of the projects were approved as "very needed" when he went to Sri Lanka in February and March. During that visit he had several meetings with companies, as well as with government officials, including the deputy defense minister and health ministry officials.

"We discussed the situation and what kind of help Sri Lanka would need. Based on those discussions, we chose projects approved by the Sri Lankan government as very needed," he said, and work had begun.

To date, EGO Zlín has invested up to 20 million Kč in the projects, according to Kostka, and is now entitled to receive 30 million Kč from the Czech government to cover 30 percent of the project's cost.