The representatives of Asian Development Bank (ADB) have consented in principle to provide Rs 1700 crore to Uttarakhand for carrying sewage treatment and improving infrastructure in different cities of State. This was informed by ADB’s India resident mission country director Kenichi Yokoyama who along with his associates met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat at his residence on Monday.
Rawat said that State government is committed to build and to improve infrastructure in urban areas. He said that funds would be utilised at optimum level to build infrastructure. The state government wants to ensure transparency in institutional processes and making it result oriented, said the chief minister. He also laid emphasis on building project management unit (PMU) and coordination among various departments.
Yokoyama informed that ADB sanctions funds for building infrastructure, sewage plant, and water supply for municipal corporations and urban areas. He said that ADB can start reform programme to make municipal bodies financially sound and to improve infrastructure. He said IT waste billing and tax collection system could be started for municipal bodies. The main focus of the ADB is to use new technologies and resources. The ADB would ensure that state would not face any financial crunch and new projects would also be considered, he added.
The State Urban Development and Housing minister Madan Kaushik, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, Urban Development Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Finance secretary Amit Negi, ADB South Asia’s city development vision director Sekhar Bonu and ADB expert Alexandra Vogl were also present on the occasion.
later in a meeting at the secretariat, the state chief secretary Utpal Kumar singh presented proposals to ADB for improvement of 1000 kilometers of state highways at a cost of Rs 2000 crore and Rs 1200 crore to develop Tehri lake as a tourist destination.
The ADB representatives were assured that the state government will start city improvement projects in the state and strengthen the PMU. The 30 per cent Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be ready by October 2018. A separate PIU has been formed for the schemes to be implemented in the first phase. A separate directorate will be formed for local bodies and city data centres will be established. The GIS based property tax will also be introduced and 24x7 water availability cell will be formed in Jal Sansthan.
A presentation was made before ADB representatives for widening and improvement of state highways. A proposal was given to ADB to provide funds in two phases. It was also stated that modern techniques of quality control would be adopted and DPR will be ready by the state government by December. The ADB representatives assured to get approval from their head office soon. Another proposal for help from ADB in tourism sector was also mooted. A presentation was made showing considerable scope for wellness and Yoga tourism, adventure, eco- tourism and village tourism. A proposal of Rs 1200 crore was presented for this. The ADB representatives showed interest in developing Tehri lake as a tourist destination.