- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, November 02, 2021 : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $61 million (Rs 458 Crore) loan to improve livability, harness technology, and promote new developments to accommodate the expanding population in the city of Agartala.
“ADB’s support is aligned with the Government of India’s national Smart Cities Mission program, which aims to drive economic growth through local area development,” – informed the ADB Urban Development Specialist for South Asia, Pedro Almeida through a press release issued on October 28.
“The project will upgrade the city’s urban infrastructure and services and create a livable city that will facilitate economic resilience and improve the quality of life of its residents.” – the release further added.
The Agartala City Urban Development Project will build and upgrade 48 km of new or existing stormwater drainage system, thereby constructing 23 km of climate-resilient urban roads which will be integrated with existing intelligent smart city components, incorporated with design elements and responsive to the expedite needs of elderly citizens, women, children and differently abled.
The project will revitalize the city by renovating open spaces and creating water recreation and lakeside walkways in the Maharaja Bir Bikram College lake and the Ujjayanta Palace.
It will incorporate of a built-in component to enhance the capacity of Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC), and other relevant agencies, on project management and operation & maintenance of urban infrastructure, own-source revenue generation, climate-and disaster-resilient urban planning, gender analysis and mainstreaming, and gender-responsive budgeting.
In addition, ADB will also provide a $1 million technical assistance (TA) grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund to support the project’s capacity building and awareness-raising activities.
