The World Bank said its board of executive directors has approved a $150 million (about Rs 1,112 crore) programme to support Tamil Nadu’s vision of making Chennai into a world-class city that is more green, livable, and resilient to climate change. 

Also, the World Bank has given its nod to a $40 million (around Rs 296 crore) project which will improve the quality of health services in Meghalaya and strengthen the state’s capacity to handle health emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

$150 million programme in Chennai

Chennai Metropolitan Area, home to about 10.9 million people, is India’s fourth most populous metropolitan area. The coastal city also remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, climate change and, as the COVID-19 emergency revealed, to pandemic.  

The $150 million ‘Chennai City Partnership: Sustainable Urban Services Program’ will help strengthen institutions, improve the financial health of service agencies, and drive significant improvements in the quality of four key urban services — water supply and sewerage, mobility, health, and solid waste management. 

Highlights of the project:

• To help break the recurring cycle of floods and droughts plaguing Chennai, the programme will support an integrated management of water resources, the water supply system, and demand. It will support the creation of a Water Regulatory Authority.

• It will support Chennai in delivering seamless and safe citizen-centric mobility services, with an emphasis on ensuring integration across modes and enhancing women’s safety in public transport and public spaces. It will also support operationalisation of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority as the entity for enhancing coordination across multiple transport modes and agencies.

• It will strengthen the health care system by supporting Chennai deliver an expanded package of health services, improve the quality of public health centers and help them achieve National Quality Assurance Standards.

• It will help reduce waste and enhance resource recovery, enabling the city to move up the waste hierarchy towards reuse, recycling, and recovery. It will also enhance the operational and financial sustainability of its solid waste management system.

$40 million project in Meghalaya

The ‘Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project’ will enhance the management and governance capabilities of the state and its health facilities It will expand the design and coverage of the state’s health insurance programme.

Highlights of the project:

• All 11 districts of the state will benefit from the project. 

• It will benefit health sector staff at the primary and secondary levels by strengthening their planning and management capabilities and building their clinical skills.

• The project will help strengthen the effectiveness of Meghalaya’s health insurance program known as the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) – which currently covers only 56 per cent of the households. With its merger into the national Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY), MHIS now plans to offer a more comprehensive package and cover 100 per cent of the households. This will reduce barriers to accessing hospital services and preventing catastrophic out-of-pocket costs for poor families.

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