Guwahati: External help is pouring in for Assam to make the state disaster-resilient. After the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) will also help Assam with $250 million assistance and the Bank has started initial work.
The total cost will be refined during project preparation. Of the $ 250 million assistance, climate adaptation will cost $ 172 million of which the Bank will finance 94.2 per cent.
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The World Bank is supporting Assam with a $ 550 million ten-year programme to reduce the vulnerability of the people to climate-related disasters.
The Bank in the first phase has signed an agreement for $108 million in assistance.
Official sources said the ADB Climate Resilient Brahmaputra Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Project in Assam is envisaged to cost $250 million to make Assam a disaster-resilient state.
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The project will combine structural and nonstructural measures in four high-priority flood- and erosion-prone areas to contribute to the broader stabilization of the river.
It will (i) stabilize critical locations by providing integrated ?climate-resilient riverbank erosion and flood protection infrastructure, which will recover lost floodplain and char land and enhance inland navigation; (ii) strengthen Assam’s institutional capacity for effective climate and disaster-resilient flood and riverbank erosion risk management (FRERM) and improve decision-making for disaster prevention and asset maintenance; and (iii) improve livelihoods of the most vulnerable riparian population and increase their resilience to shocks via inclusive economic empowerment.
The proposed project will build on the Assam Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program (AIFRERMIP) to increase the reliability and effectiveness of flood and riverbank erosion risk management (FRERM) systems in flood-prone areas.
It will focus on the main stem of the Brahmaputra River in Assam and follow a climate-resilient, holistic, integrated, systematic, and reach-wise approach to managing riverbank erosion and the attendant flood risk.
The project is planned in Barpeta, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Morigaon, Nagaon and Tinsukia districts.
About half of Assam is prone to floods and between 1953 and 2020, an estimated 178 million people were impacted by floods in virtually all districts of the State.
Over 50 million hectares in Assam were affected by floods during this same period, which represents over 10 per cent of the total area affected by floods in all of India.
Approximately 386,476 hectares, equivalent to approximately 7 per cent of the State’s landmass in 17 riverine districts, were lost due to river erosion between 1954 and 2019.
A high percentage of Assam’s landmass suffers from moderate to extremely severe soil loss (i.e., greater than 10 tons/ha/year) due to water erosion, and over 65 per cent of Assam’s landmass has moderate to extremely severe soil loss, well over the national average of 38 per cent.
Another almost 30 per cent face very severe to extremely severe soil loss (i.e., greater than 40 tons/ha/year) due to water erosion, significantly higher than the national average of 5 per cent.
The devastating 2022 floods affected 34 of Assam’s 35 districts, claimed 201 lives, damaged 315,641 houses and 243,929 hectares of cropped area, forced 743,528 people into relief camps, and adversely impacted the lives and livelihoods of around 8.8 million people across 10,008 villages.