India signs MoU worth over $400 with World Bank for Additional Financing Under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation

• US$ 104.00 Million Additional Financing Under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-I
• US$ 308.40 Million for National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-II

The Financing Agreement was signed by Mr. Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. John Blomquist, Program Leader and Acting Country Director in India, on behalf of the World Bank. The Project Agreements in respect of the States of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal were signed by the representatives of the respective State Governments. Mr. Subrai T. Nadkarni, Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department and Ex-Officio Additional Secretary, signed on behalf of the Government of Goa; Ms. Anju Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority signed on behalf of the Government of Gujarat; Mr. Raj Kumar Khatri, Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management signed on behalf of the Government of Karnataka; Ms. Rachna Shah, Additional Resident Commissioner signed on behalf of the Government of Kerala; Mr. Suhas Diwase, Director, Disaster Management Unit signed on behalf of the Government of Maharashtra; and Mr. R. D. Meena, Principal Resident Commissioner signed on behalf of the Government of West Bengal.

The objective of Additional Financing under NCRMP-I is to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to cyclone and other hydro meteorological hazards in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The Additional Financing under NCRMP-I, through its different components, will provide both direct and indirect benefits to the coastal communities in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. It would also provide improved access to emergency shelter and evacuation against wind storms, flooding and storm surge in high risk areas currently not covered by the original project (NCRMP-I).

The objective of NCRMP-II is to reduce vulnerability to cyclone and other hydro-meteorological hazards of coastal communities in the States of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal; and increase the capacity of the State entities to effectively plan for and respond to disasters. The primary beneficiaries of NCRMP-II will be coastal communities in the target states benefitting from cyclone risk mitigation infrastructure and early warning systems. The project will also finance technical assistance for strengthening of multi-hazard risk management at the national level and improving the quality of available information on multi-hazard risks for decision making across the country.

Both the projects have four components: (i) Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) and Capacity building for coastal communities; (ii) Cyclone Risk Mitigation Infrastructure; (iii) Technical Assistance for National and State Level Capacity Building on Disaster Risk Management; and (iv) Project Management and Implementation Support.