ADB Funded Aizawl Project Will Take Off Soon

Aizawl, Apr 27 : The Asia Development Bank-funded infrastructure development in Aizawl will take off soon as ADB inception mission team arrived here today.

The team, comprising Shigehiko Muramoto, PAU head, ADB's South Asian urban development division and Febe Valencia Bebedel, ADB's assistant project analyst, will meet the state finance commissioner, UD&PA secretary, planning advisor and project director of State Investment Programme Management and Implementation Unit (SIPMIU).

A tripartite loan agreement in this regard had been signed between Mizoram government, the Union government and the ADB in New Delhi on August four, 2009 to enable sanctioning of ADB loan under the North Eastern Region Capital Cities Development Investment Programme (NERCCDIP) to the state.

Officials here said the first tranche of the project had been readied for execution with M/s Gherzi Eastern India, New Delhi having been awarded the contract.

About Rs 330 crore has been allocated for Aizawl, of which Rs 26 crore is expected in the first tranche to address water supply infrastructure.

''Supply and installation of chlorinator supply is expected to complete at the cost of Rs 40 lakh in August this year. Meanwhile, the tender for supply and installation of water metre is being evaluated,'' an official source said.

The first tranche of the project includes renovation of all PS tanks in the city and construction of two chowkidar quarters and a site office.

Currently, SIPMIU is carrying out a survey for second tranche of the project that includes renovation of water distribution line, sewerage system and waste disposal system.

The ADB has provided upto 200 million dollar to improve infrastructure in five state capital cities of Northeast, the first time it has extended large scale assistance for urban sector development in one of the country's most underdeveloped regions.

The North Eastern Region Capital Cities Development Investment Program will upgrade basic infrastructure, such as water supply and sanitation in the state capitals of Shillong (Meghalaya), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland), Gangtok (Sikkim) and Agartala (Tripura), benefiting an estimated 1.2 million people.

The loan facility from ADB's ordinary capital resources will be made available in three or more tranches over the duration of the program implementation from 2009 to 2015.

The Government of India and state governments will provide an additional 85.7 million dollar equivalent for a total estimated program cost of 285.7 million dollar, sources said.