Agartala, Feb 25 (IANS): The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which identified Tripura for a strategic partnership, will provide around Rs 8,000 crore over the next 4-5 years to implement various developmental projects.

A Tripura finance department official said that in addition to the funding, the ADB will provide technical assistance and support for diagnostic studies. The proposed funding of Rs 8,000 crore is excluding the the current projects being implemented in Tripura.

Tripura Chief Secretary Kumar Alok in a tweet said: "Projects requiring regional cooperation with Bangladesh have also been identified and will be taken forward with the consent of both countries' governments. I thank Shri Sameer Khare, ED ADB and County Director Mr Takeo Konishi for taking this initiative."

The finance department official said that the government is working for the socio-economic development of the state by prioritising development of the health, industry, education, transport, tourism, agriculture, infrastructure sectors and the ADB has came forward to speed up the development of these primary sectors.

An ADB delegation headed by the bank's Executive Director Samir Kumar Khare earlier this week held a series of meetings with Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, who holds the finance portfolio, and senior officials. Deb lauded the ADB for identifying Tripura for a strategic partnership and emphasised upon the successful and speedy implementation of all the schemes taken up by the ADB for the development of the state.

Deputy Chief Minister Varma said that a huge part of the state is forest area and the ADB has scope to work on different schemes on climate change based on the state forest resources. Besides that, there is a lot of scope for the ADB to invest in the industry, infrastructure, tourism, health sectors, he added.

ADB Executive Director Samir Kumar Khare during the meetings with the state government elaborated about the plans taken up by the bank for the next four years for the development of different sectors through a pictorial presentation. ADB's Country Director Takio Konishi also attended these meetings.