New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India today signed a $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in Maharashtra. It also signed a $112 million loan to develop water supply infrastructure and strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery in four towns in Jharkhand.
The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 kilometers (km) in 34 districts. The ongoing project with $200 million financing, approved in August 2019, is already improving and maintaining the condition and safety of 2,100 km of rural roads across Maharashtra.
“With the additional financing, the overall project will improve the condition and safety of 5,000 km of rural roads and over 200 bridges connecting rural communities with productive agricultural areas and socioeconomic centers in Maharashtra,” said Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Mishra after signing the loan agreement.
The new project in Maharashtra is expected to generate about 3.1 million person-days of employment for local communities, of which at least 25% will be for women, over the construction and maintenance periods. A gender action plan has been prepared to focus on capacity development of women workers so that they can benefit from the semiskilled and unskilled labor opportunities.
This additional financing will rebuild and rehabilitate roads and bridges in Maharashtra destroyed by the devastating floods in August 2019. The design incorporates flood and climate resilience measures, pilot test the use of environment-friendly materials on selected road segments, use of mobile mapping technology to monitor the project roads and utilize new technologies such as fiber-reinforced concrete and pre-cast concrete arch bridge.
The Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) today also signed a $112 million loan Mishra stated that the project is aligned with Government of Jharkhand’s priority to improve urban services in the state and will ensure continuous, treated piped water supply in the state capital of Ranchi and other three towns of Hussainabad, Jhumri Telaiya, and Medininagar located in economically and socially backward areas.
“The project will be ADB’s first urban project in the state and help establish a model for continuous water supply combined with policy reforms for sustainable operation which can be replicated by other low-income states for providing safe drinking water to urban households as envisaged under national Jal Jeevan Mission,” said Mr. Konishi.
Four water treatment plants, with a combined capacity of 275 million liters per day, will be established in the project towns to provide safe drinking water meeting the national drinking water quality standards. The project will also establish 940 kilometers of water distribution network to provide continuous water supply to about 115,000 households, including those below the poverty line, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe members, and other vulnerable groups.
To ensure sustainability, the project will strengthen the capacity of ULBs on urban service delivery and governance through development of an asset management strategy and training on design and implementation of urban projects. Innovative technologies will be introduced to minimize water losses in water treatment and distribution. The project also includes the use of a supervisory control and data acquisition system for water supply operation, and geographic information system-based asset management in Ranchi.
– global bihari bureau
