$120 Million for Assam

Assam will receive Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance to combat flooding and erosion, which regularly cause large economic losses and social upheaval in one of the country’s poorest regions. ADB’s Board of Directors approved a loan package of up to 120 million dollars for the Assam Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program, which will include both infrastructure improvement and non-physical measures.

The government will provide counterpart funds of 14.2 million dollars for a total first tranche cost of 71.1 million dollars. The full program investment cost is set at 150 million dollars with the government providing a 30 million dollar equivalent. The program will focus on improving protection for communities in three sub-project areas covering 90 kilometers along the Brahmaputra River.

Over 40 kilometers of existing flood embankments will be renovated, riverbank erosion will be addressed using cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies, and steps will be taken to put up infrastructure maintenance on a more sustainable footing.