ADB, India Sign $Loan for Uttarakhand Urban Services

An significant $200 million loan was agreed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Indian government. The goal of this financing is to enhance Uttarakhand's urban services. Important representatives from both groups signed the deal. This project fits with India's larger plan for urban development.

An overview of the Livability Improvement project in the state of Uttarakhand

• It lies in the water supply and sanitation areas, urban mobility and transport, and urban services to be enhanced in Uttarakhand.

Key objectives include:

• Urban Infrastructure: Building structural frameworks to accommodate climate/environmental change.
• Capacity Building: Building capacity in managing projects, meeting disaster response and planning, as well as capacity in revenue mobilization by state agencies.
• Gender Mainstreaming: Towards self-sufficiency for women; training in urban transport and water management.
• Targets several cities in Uttarakhand: Haldwani, Champawat, Kichha, Kotdwar & Vikasnagar.

Improvements in Haldwani include:

• 16 km of climate-responsive roads, intelligent traffic signalization, CNG buses, stormwater management and roadside drain, meteorological early warning system, green-rated administration building, and bus depot.
• Water supply enhancements in Champawat, Kichha, Kotdwar, and Vikasnagar include: Amounting to 1,024 kilometers of climatically safe pipelines, smart water meters, tubewells, and new reservoirs, besides a 3,500 lakh liter per day water treatment plant.
• Sanitation improvements in Vikasnagar include increasing the construction of sewage treatment facilities and around 2,000 households.
• Women Empowerment Initiatives: Training for generating economic activities using commercial driving skills for buses; bus ticketing or electrical charging stations; enterprise development for women to operate and manage water supply and sanitation.