The Asian Development Bank has signed a $65.5 million loan agreement with India for checking coastal erosion on the western coast of Karnataka.
The loan is the second tranche of a $250-million financing facility under the Sustainable Coastal Protection and Management Investment Programme, ADB said in a statement.
The financing will be used to address the immediate coastal protection needs and for strengthening institutional capacity of Karnataka’s public works, ports and inland water transport department.
The agreement was signed on Thursday by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Finance Ministry, and ADB’s Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama in Bengaluru.
Coastal erosion in the State, where the project is focussed, poses a high risk to human wellbeing, economic development and ecological integrity through loss of land, infrastructure and business opportunities.
Under increasing threat from climate change impacts, coastal protection and management has evolved as a major challenge to development.
It further said that the second tranche loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources has a 20-year term.