"JICA will be turned into an 'independent administrative institution' tomorrow from its early status of a 'special public institution' established in 1974," Additional Resident Representative of JICA Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki said yesterday.

He said they have been expecting a gradual overhaul in the JICA activities, its staff and salary structure with the new set up.

The JICA and the Economic Relations' Division (ERD) sources said the government of Japan made the change to bring more dynamism and efficiency in JICA activities and ensure its highest accountability to Japanese taxpayers.

JICA is the Japanese official technical assistance provider to 152 countries including Bangladesh in the fields of health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, human resources development and water management.

It spent 2.5 billion yens as technical assistance and 201.62 US dollars as grants for Bangladesh in 2001, sources said.

An official of the ERD said the change would no way affect Bangladesh in receiving the JICA technical assistance as well as Japanese grants under the Officials Development Assistance (ODA) programme.

Bangladesh welcomes the initiative of Japan for its reform programmes to make JICA more vibrant, he added.

A new president would also take over as the head of JICA for the first time from outside the Japanese foreign ministry officials, he said.

Ogato Sadako, who served as the chief of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), will take over as the new president of JICA, he said.