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| India, AIIB sign MoU for USD 145 million to improve irrigation services and flood management in West Bengal: Highlights with Details |
India, AIIB sign MoU for USD 145 million to improve irrigation services and flood management in West Bengal: Highlights with Details
The MoUs Signed by:
The agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India; Krishna Gupta, Principal Resident Commissioner, on behalf of the Government of West Bengal and Rajat Misra, Director General (Acting) on behalf of the AIIB.
Benefits:
The West Bengal Major Irrigation and Flood Management Project will benefit about 2.7 million farmers from five districts of West Bengal across 393,964 ha area with better irrigation services and improved protection against annual flooding to mitigate the impact of climate change.
About Damodar Valley Command Area (DVCA):
The DVCA is over 60 years old, and in need of modernization. Key challenges include degradation of infrastructure and inadequate irrigation management, including poor quality of service delivery, inefficient irrigation and the failure to serve the middle and tail parts of the canal network with surface water.
Tail end farmers are compelled to extract groundwater, which increases the costs of cultivation and undermines the sustainability of the scheme. Between 2005 and 2017, the number of semi-critical blocks increased from five to 19 (out of a total of 41 blocks).
The Lower Damodar basin area is historically flood-prone. On average, 33,500 hectares of the cropped area and 461,000 people are affected annually.
Value of The Project:
The total value of the project is $413.8 million, co-financed between the AIIB ($145 million), IBRD ($145 million) and the Government of West Bengal ($123.8 million). The $145 million loan from the AIIB has a 6-year grace period, and a maturity of 24 years.(inp:dd)
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