ADB lends $120 mn for irrigation project in Odisha
The Dollar Business Bureau India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed a $120 million loan agreement to facilitate irrigation and water management infrastructure in Odisha. The second tranche of the $157.5 million loan, under the Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Investment Program, will be used for upgrading seven irrigation subprojects, which will improve irrigation in more than 100,000 hectares and strengthen Water User Associations (WUAs) and the capacity of the state’s Department of Water Resources. The investment will be made across Baitarani, Brahmani, Budhabalanga, and Subernarekha river basin areas and parts of the Mahanadi delta. “Agriculture is a priority sector for India and especially for Odisha because of its high potential to generate jobs ...
Comm Min to soon approach Cabinet for NICDA
The Dollar Business Bureau The Commerce and Industry Ministry is likely to approach the Cabinet recommending the setup of the National Industrial Corridor Development Authority, which will ease the process to set up industrial corridors. Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, revealed that the authority will have different verticals which will look into the proposals of industrial corridors. The functions of the authority will be to sanction and appraise projects, conduct project development activities, implement and coordinate the Centre’s efforts and objectives for industrial corridors. Abhishek further shed the light on the progress made for different industrial corridors in India. About 8,000 cr worth projects were approved in the Delhi-Mumbai corridor. The works for other four industrial corridors, including Visakhapatnam-Chennai ...
Railway restructuring should be linked to economic clusters
The Dollar Business Bureau “Railways should prioritise linking economic clusters through high-speed passenger and freight network,” said CUTS (Consumer Unity & Trust Society) International as part of its comments on the Bibek Debroy Panel report on Restructuring Railways. The non-profit went on to add that, in fact, a detailed exercise of mapping current and future economic clusters must precede the efforts of railway liberalisation. This will ensure enhanced participation of private players. For example, focus on railway investments on the feeder routes from the coal and iron ore mines located mostly in the tristate area of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand will help achieve greater efficiency. In addition to the above, an urgent action is required to ensure that India’s transport ...
