Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to spend $120 million (around Rs 740 crore) to protect nearly one million people from floods caused by the Brahmaputra river in Assam.

The project, Flood and River Erosion Management (FREM), aims to control frequent floods and river bank erosion by creating embankment and associated structures along Brahmaputra.

In addition, the local communities in the vicinity of the river are being trained on disaster management.

The total project cost is estimated at $150 million. Other than ADB, the State and Central governments would contribute $30 million.

The project is expected to be completed in seven years and under the first tranche, ADB would contribute $56.9 million, Natsuko Totsuka, a water resources specialist at ADB, told reporters visiting the site where the FREM is under implementation.

The work on the first phase is expected to be completed by September 2014.

The project has been taken up at three locations in Assam along the Brahmaputra — Palasbari-Gumi, Kaziranga and Dibrugarh. The Flood and River Bank Erosion Management Agency of Assam, a special purpose vehicle floated jointly by ADB and the Government, is implementing the project.

Currently, more than 300 people are working at the first site at Gumi.

Totsuka said this is the first time ADB has taken up such a project in India. Similar programmes have been implemented in Bangladesh.

“On successful completion of the first project, similar initiatives would be replicated for other flood affected areas in Assam,” said Totsuka.

siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

(The correspondent is visiting Guwahati on invitation of ADB)

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