Uttarakhand pins hope on Centre for revival of ADB-funded works

The Uttarakhand government is pinning hope on the Centre for revival of Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded works, the loan period for which came to an end on Tuesday.

Sewerage and water supply line works in the hill state were being carried out under the ADB-assisted Uttarakhand Urban Sector Development Investment Program (UUSDIP), but the ADB’s 10 year loan period signed in 2008 concluded on January 23.

The state urban development department has initiated the process to seek fresh loan, having submitted a proposal to the Central government in this regard.

“We have approached the Centre to push for resumption of loan for the next phases of civic works that were to be carried through the ADB,” urban development minister Madan Kaushik said.

“We’ve sent a proposal to the (Union finance ministry’s) department of economic affairs which negotiates and coordinates foreign loans for a new loan through ADB. Till then, the remaining works for development of urban infrastructure will be taken care of by us (state government),” Kaushik said.

Notably, civic works supported by the ADB, which were first approved in 2008, had to be conducted in Uttarakhand through four phases during a 10-year period up till 2018.

The ADB, however, refused to provide a loan of around ₹1,200 crore to the state last year for the next two phases of the project owing to “sluggish speed of works” in the first two phases of the project.

An officer familiar with the matter said that works of around ₹180 crore were carried out in the state under the ABD-funded project in 2016-17.

“During the loan period, works of only ₹700 crore could be completed out of (the originally sanctioned) ₹2,500 crore loan. During the last three years, works of around ₹500 crore were conducted while prior to that works of around ₹100 crore had been spent in the previous seven years,” he said.

Vinay Mishra, project manager for ADB-supported projects in Dehradun, said the major focus of works was on laying water supply lines and sewerage lines in six towns – Ramnagar, Nainital and Haldwani in Kumaon and Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkee in Garhwal region.

“In the state capital, over 90% works have been completed so far,” he said.