Japan to invest Rs 13,000 cr in northeast in infrastructure projects

New Delhi | Japan will invest Rs 13,000 crore in several ongoing as well as new infrastructure projects in the northeast region, including a water supply scheme in Assam and a network connectivity improvement initiative in Meghalaya, the DoNER Ministry said Wednesday.

Some of the important projects in which Japan will collaborate include the Guwahati water supply project, Guwahati sewage project, the northeast road network connectivity improvement project spread over Assam and Meghalaya and northeast network connectivity improvement project in Meghalaya.

Other schemes include biodiversity conservation and forest management project in Sikkim, sustainable forest management project in Tripura, technical cooperation project for sustainable agriculture and irrigation in Mizoram and forest management project in Nagaland, a statement issued by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said.

The government of Japan has decided to invest an amount of 205.784 billion yen, equivalent to approximately Rs 13,000 crore, in several ongoing as well as new projects in different states of northeastern region, the statement said.

The details of the Japanese investment in the northeast were disclosed at a meeting of DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh with a Japanese delegation led by Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu here.

Singh appreciated the Japanese contribution to the development and transformation of the northeast in the last three to four years.

The minister said in the times to come, new areas of collaboration will also sought to be worked out, which could possibly include bamboo-related collaboration. Significantly, it was the Narendra Modi government which amended the century-old Indian Forest Act of 1919 to bring the home-grown bamboo out of its purview, Singh added.