The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of India inked USD 270 million loan agreement to develop water supply & integrated storm water and sewage management infrastructure and strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
This is an additional financing to scale up the scope of the ongoing Madhya Pradesh Urban Services Improvement Project, which was approved in 2017 with USD 275 million loan.
It will expand the outcome of the current project by covering additional 64 small cities benefiting 1,85,000 households consisting of about 1.3 million people.
The project will improve livability in selected cities with provision of universal access to basic water and sanitation services for residents. This is aligned to the vision of the state government to improve urban infrastructure services with universal coverage of piped water supply in all urban local bodies by 2025.
The provision of inclusive water and sanitation services to the urban poor will help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 or access to clean water and sanitation for all.
The project will receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, specifically for integration of citywide inclusive sanitation principles into planning, design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the sanitation subprojects.
As in the previous loan, the project will support the continued institutional strengthening and capacity building of the Urban Development and Housing Department and the Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company.
The project will pilot an integrated urban development approach to improve urban service delivery and infrastructure of two urban local bodies.