NEW DELHI: Japan will invest a staggering `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 on Wednesday.
DoNER Minister Jeetendra Singh made the announcement after a meeting with the Japanese delegation led by Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu in the national capital.
Some 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.
Singh also voiced his appreciation for the Japanese contribution to the development and transformation of the northeast in the last three to four years. The minister said in the foreseeable future, new areas of cooperation could be worked out. The new ventures 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,” the statement quoted Singh as saying.