‘Japan interested in partnering with India for infra building abroad’
NEW DELHI : Japan’s premier international cooperation and development agency, JICA, is interested in partnering with India in infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Pacific, said JICA India chief Saito Mitsunori. He also pointed to JICA’s plans with the newly announced Bay of Bengal Northeast Corridor, which aims to build infrastructure in India and Bangladesh and construct a new industrial value chain.
In an interview Saito also stated that JICA intends to continue funding to Indian private sector enterprises looking to deliver development solutions. He also stated that JICA is interested in finding ways to meet the long term financing needs of the Indian infrastructure sector.
Edited excerpts: We are still interested in the idea. JICA is open to any proposals from Indian side for joint projects/programs in India’s neighbouring countries or in other regions such as Southeast Asia, Africa and the Pacific.
JICA has mega-scale development projects which will contribute to realizing ‘Bay of Bengal-Northeast Industrial Value Chain Concept’ on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border. On the Bangladesh side, JICA is financing the development of Matabari’s deep seaport in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, and the cumulative loan amount to the project has reached 146.8 billion yen.
On the Indian side, JICA is financing road connectivity improvement projects in the Northeast region, totaling more than 750km in length and the cumulative loan amount reaching 184.6 billion yen. From the socio-economic development perspective, the region is often described as “lagging far behind the rest of the country in most important parameters of growth" as is described in the “North Eastern Region Vision 2020 Vision
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