PIB

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar has said that two projects of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region have been proposed for external aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank. These are: (i) North Eastern States Roads Investment Programme (NESRIP) with assistance from the ADB and (ii) North East Rural Livelihood Project with assistance from the World Bank.

(i) ADB assisted North Eastern States Roads Investment Programme (NESRIP): The Scheme was approved on 19th May 2011 at estimated cost of Rs. 1353.83 crore. The Asian Development Bank will be providing loan assistance of upto US $ 200 million (Rs.908 crore) under its Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF). Under the Scheme, a total of 433.7 Km long roads in NE States of Assam (137.6 Km), Manipur (93.2 (Km), Meghalaya (93.4 Km), Mizoram (55.0 Km), Sikkim (34.2 Km) and Tripura (20.3 Km) will be constructed/upgraded/improved over a period of 5 (five) years, i.e., 2011-2016. The loan agreement is expected to be signed by early next year after completing the remaining formalities prescribed for external aid.

(ii) World Bank aided North East Rural Livelihood Project: The Ministry of DoNER have proposed to implement the North East Rural Livelihood Project in 8 (eight) selected districts of 4 (four) NE States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura with soft loan assistance from the World Bank. For effective implementation of the project, a North East Livelihood Promotion Society (NELPS) has been constituted which has started functioning from December 2009. The duration of the project is 5 (five) years, commencing from 2011. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs. 683.2 crore (US $ 144.4 million). The World Bank will contribute Rs. 614.8 crore (US $ 130 million) as IDA soft loan and Ministry of DoNER will contribute Rs. 68.4 crore (US $ 14.4 million) from its budget allocation.

In a written reply in Lok Sasha today, He said that the World Bank has provided an advance for Project Preparatory Facility (PPF) of US $ 1.215 million to finance expenditures required for preparation of the project. The following budget allocations have been made to the Project Regional Office for pre-project activities during the last three years:

 

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