Assam Resilient Rural Bridges Program

The development objective of the Assam Resilient Rural Bridges Program for India is to build green, inclusive, and resilient connectivity in rural Assam and strengthen the Assam Public Works Roads Department’s (APWRD) roads and bridges management capability. The Program interventions will support resilience and institutional building initiatives, including: (i) strengthening environment and social (E and S) management capability; (ii) strengthening APWRD’s financial management (FM) and procurement capability; (iii) strengthening the capacity for managing roads and bridges; and (iv) enhancing the resilience of bridges. In addition, the Program supports EV policy updating and establishing green rural transport and logistics hubs. The physical interventions to be implemented under the Program will include rural bridges: (i) maintenance; (ii) widening; and (iii) replacement and construction of temporary, distressed, collapsed and washed out and new bridges. The key results areas (RA) are: RA 1: strengthening management capability for roads and bridges; RA 2: enhancing the resilience of bridges and rural communities; and RA 3: inclusive and resilient connectivity to rural communities, and relief during disaster events. The project will support the development of a framework to increase the resilience of bridges and rural communities during disasters, including by creating a bioenegineering solutions plan to help mitigate riverine flooding.