GUWAHATI: A World Bank delegation led by Regional Vice President Johannes Zutt on Monday, May 18, reviewed the progress of major World Bank-assisted projects being implemented in Assam and held discussions on future areas of collaboration aligned with the state government’s developmental priorities.
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The delegation, which also included senior World Bank officials Jen JungEun Oh and Arnab Bandopadhyay, met senior Assam Government officials as per the directives of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
During the meeting, officials reviewed seven major externally aided projects currently being implemented in Assam with a cumulative outlay of around ₹16,648 crore, including a World Bank assistance component of nearly ₹13,320 crore.
The projects cover several key sectors such as transport connectivity, river basin management, healthcare, school education, governance reforms and resilient infrastructure development.
Among the projects reviewed was the Assam Inland Water Transport Project, with a total project cost of ₹770 crore, which has achieved more than 89 per cent physical progress.
The meeting also discussed the Assam Integrated River Basin Management Project Phase-I with an outlay of over ₹1,105 crore and the Assam State Secondary Healthcare Initiative for Service Delivery Transformation (ASSIST) Project worth around ₹2,567 crore aimed at strengthening secondary healthcare systems.
Other major projects reviewed included the Assam Resilient Rural Bridges Program involving an investment of over ₹4,706 crore, the Assam Disaster Resilient Hill Area Road Development Project with an approved outlay of ₹3,875 crore, and the Assam Governance and Service Delivery Program with an outlay of ₹875 crore.
The School Education and Adolescent Wellbeing Project, with an investment of ₹2,750 crore, was also discussed during the review meeting.
During the interaction, the Assam Government highlighted its focus on resilient infrastructure, digital governance reforms and citizen-centric service delivery. The state also requested the World Bank to consider greater flexibility in minimum project size norms for governance, institutional reform and digital transformation initiatives.
The government further sought enhanced engagement from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives and infrastructure asset monetisation through technical and transaction advisory support.
During the meeting, World Bank Regional Vice President Johannes Zutt reportedly assured flexibility in designing future operations aligned with timelines and outcomes and emphasised the importance of identifying sectors where PPP models can be effectively financed.
The meeting also discussed sustainable maintenance and lifecycle management of infrastructure assets created under externally aided projects. The Assam Government requested support for establishing an Asset Management Fund and developing a digital Asset Management Information System for monitoring and maintenance of public infrastructure.
Senior officials of the Government of Assam and representatives of concerned departments were also present at the meeting.