The Centre and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a 50 million dollar loan agreement for a climate-adaptative water harvesting project in Meghalaya.
The loan agreement for the Climate-Adaptative Community-Based Water-Harvesting Project was signed yesterday by the Joint Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Juhi Mukherjee, and Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, Mio Oka.
The project will support the construction of 532 small water storage facilities across 12 districts. These facilities will incorporate climate-resilient designs to capture and manage heavy rainfall and flash floods during the monsoon season. The stored water shall improve water security during the dry season.
Under the project, three thousand hectares of command area will be developed to provide reliable irrigation areas for farmers. It will also establish 50 weather stations for gathering and monitoring climate data, and micro-irrigation systems in Garo, Jaintia, and Khasi regions.
The ADB will help strengthen the capacity of the Meghalaya State Watershed and Wasteland Development Agency and the Soil and Water Conservation Department in water management.
