Guwahati, May 31 : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has, for the first time, undertaken an ambitious plan to work out a long-term strategy to check the perennial problem of floods and erosion in Assam.
The bank, which has sought help from international experts for the project, will submit a draft report for the first phase of its work in June. It has identified four vulnerable areas — Palasbari in Kamrup district, Bonpora in Kaziranga, Dibrugarh town and Motmora — for the project.Flood control minister Bharat Chandra Narah said the bank had sought technical assistance from German and Japanese experts to prepare detailed reports for the project. Work is expected to begin in end-2009.
In the first phase, the ADB has decided on a plan outlay of Rs 500 crore that will be given to the state on a 90:10 basis. This means the state will bear 10 per cent of the project cost, while the rest will be given by the Centre as a grant. The bank will loan the money to the Centre.
The project, christened the Northeastern Integrated Flood and River Basin Erosion Management Project, aims at reducing the vulnerability of the areas to flood and erosion through comprehensive planning using new techniques and cost-effective and sustainable methods, Narah said.
“The foreign agencies being involved by the ADB to prepare the project reports are very experienced. They have the experience of handling similar projects in Bangladesh and other flood-ravaged countries,” water resources secretary Paran Baruah said.
He added that ADB was planning to use geo-textile bags instead of boulders to check erosion along a 25-km-stretch on either side of the Brahmaputra in these four places. “Boulders are not locally available. So ADB has decided to use geo-textile bags which will be filled with sand. These textile bags are said to be very strong and durable,” Baruah said. Though ADB is expected to submit the draft proposal in June, the loan will be sanctioned only in 2009, Baruah said. The bank will organise a workshop to sensitise the stakeholders so that work on the project goes on unhindered without facing any protests or objections.
After work in the first phase is completed, the bank may undertake a similar project .
in other flood and erosion-affected areas of the state, Baruah hoped.
Telegraph India
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