By IANS
Agartala : Germany will provide a whopping Rs.830 million ($20 million) financial assistance to Tripura, aimed at empowering the tribals and people living in rural areas by utilising the abundant natural resources, officials Thursday said.
"Under the Indo-German Bilateral Cooperation, the German government would provide 15 million euros (Rs.830 million) of which one fifth is grant and the remaining as loan," Lokranjan, Tripura's industries and commerce department commissioner, said.
A five-member German team led by Marcus Tuwell during the past one week held a series of meetings with senior Tripura officials and visited various parts of the state.
They also met Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury and Chief Secretary Sashi Prakash.
"About 50,000 families, mostly tribal and rural poor, would benefit under this six-year project," Lokranjan said.
He said Germany would also provide technical assistance to utilise the natural resources for sustainable development to make the people self-reliant.
"The German loan would be borne by the union and Tripura government in the ratio of 90:10," the official said.
Japan is also funding a major ecological conservation project in Tripura with a Rs.3.62 billion soft loan.
It will be financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) at simple interest.