Indian Bihar Gets ADB, Japan Loan Support

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday said it is tying up with Japan Special Fund to provide financial assistance to a project to improve living conditions and the environment in key urban centers in the Indian state of Bihar.

The regional lender said the Japan Special Fund, through ADB, will provide a grant of 1 million U.S. dollars to help prepare the groundwork for the proposed Bihar Urban Development Project in the cities of Patna and Gaya, the state's two largest cities. The government of Bihar will contribute a further 250,000 U.S. dollars.

An earlier ADB study found Patna and Gaya have major deficiencies in their key urban services, such as water supplies, sewerage systems and solid waste management systems. Large quantities of water are lost to leaks, sewerage treatment is patchy or non-existent, and much of the solid waste produced goes uncollected, ADB said in a press release. Many urban dwellers, especially the poor, lack access to these basic services and are forced to endure unsanitary and unsightly living conditions, it said.

ADB said the grant will help the government of Bihar set up project management and implementation units, and assess and design an appropriate customer tariff structure and target tax collection rate.

The proposed project will help to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of ensuring a sustainable environment, and in particular the target of reducing the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, said Gyongshim An, an Urban Development Specialist in ADB's South Asia Department.