Asian Development Bank (ADB):
The Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a USD 4.5 million Project Readiness Financing (PRF) loan to support urban mobility in Mizoram.
- Earlier, the ADB and the Government of India signed a USD 484 million loan to improve transport connectivity and industrial development in the Chennai – Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) in Tamil Nadu.
- PRF supports high implementation readiness for projects that are expected to be financed by ADB.
- Urban mobility in Aizawl, the center of Mizoram’s administrative and service industry, is severely constrained due to rapid and unplanned urbanization.
- This results in traffic congestion on narrow road widths, and adversely impacts road safety, efficiency in movement of people and goods, and environmental sustainability.
- The ensuing project, being developed through the project readiness financing, seeks to resolve the city’s transport problems by adopting sustainable urban mobility solutions.
- It will help develop institutional capacity of the state’s Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Department in pre-implementation and project preparation activities.
- The PRF will develop a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for Aizawl that outlines the urban transport development strategy and build synergies with urban development planning initiatives in the state, and promote climate and disaster resilience, and gender inclusiveness in its interventions.
- CMP will facilitate an optimised use of capital in relevant projects, and enhance the economic competitiveness of cities by improving logistics and access to jobs, basic services, education, etc.
Asian Development Bank:
- It is a regional development bank established on 19th December 1966. It is headquartered in Manila, Philippines.
- It now has 68 members, 49 from within Asia.
- India is one of the members.
- It’s five largest shareholders are Japan and the United States (each with 15.6% of total shares), the People’s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8%).
- It aims to promote social and economic development in Asia and the Pacific.
