Konishi says loan will support water and recycling treated sewage projects
A US$400 million policy-based loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to support India’s urban reform agenda for creating high quality infrastructure, improving service delivery and promoting efficient governance systems.
India’s urban sector strategy with a focus on urban reforms is aimed at making cities livable and centres of economic growth through provisioning of inclusive, resilient and sustainable infrastructure, Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, said after signing the loan with ADB on 13 Nov 2023.
“Sub-programme 2 supports the reforms initiated by the states and the urban local bodies (ULBs) in operationalising the national flagship programme of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 targeted for universal access of water supply and sanitation,” elaborated Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, who signed the loan for ADB.
“The sub-programme also supports other mission objectives for ensuring urban water security through reducing water losses, recycling treated sewage for non-domestic use, rejuvenation of water bodies, and maintaining sustainable ground water level.”
The Sub-programme 2 is under the Sustainable Urban Development and Service Delivery Programme.
While Sub-programme 1 approved in 2021 with a financing of US$350 million established national-level policies and guidelines to improve urban services, Sub-programme 2 is supporting investment planning and reform actions at the state and urban local body levels.
The programme also envisages integrated urban planning reforms to control urban sprawls and foster systemic and planned urbanisation through enhancing the entire ecosystem of legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms along with capacity building of ULBs and community awareness, the Finance Ministry said.
Specifically, ULBs will promote modernisation of building bylaws, land pooling, urban agglomeration, and comprehensive urban mobility planning through transit-oriented development to help cities become well-planned centres of economic growth.
Such integrated planning processes will incorporate climate and disaster resilience, promote nature-based solutions, improve urban environment, and improve cities’ financial sustainability through generation of additional revenues.
Moreover, cities will be incentivised to become creditworthy through various reforms on enhancing their revenues such as property taxes and user charges, improve their efficiencies and rationalize their expenditures.
This will substantially help cities to mobilise innovative financing such as commercial borrowings, issuance of municipal bonds, sub sovereign debts, and public–private partnerships to bridge significant deficits in urban infrastructure investments, said the Ministry. Fiinews.com
