Task force presents report on coalition for derisking region’s infrastructure
03 May 2018
The task force set up to recommend ways of establishing a regional coalition for building a disaster-resilient infrastructure, has recommended a step-by-step implementation plan and analysis in order to build and operationalise a coalition.
The report on “Establishing a Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI),” submitted to union home minister Rajnath Singh, presents a business case for the coalition, analyses best practices of international partnerships in disaster risk and other thematic areas and preliminary design of the coalition.
During the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in New Delhi in November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had outlined a 10-point agenda for disaster risk reduction.
The prime minister then said “India will work with other partner countries and key stakeholders to build a coalition or centre for promoting disaster resilient infrastructure in the region. This will help generate new knowledge for hazard risk assessment, disaster resilient technologies and mechanism for integrating risk reduction in infrastructure financing”.
With a view to take this agenda further forward, a Task Force was constituted by the ministry of home affairs. Besides the chairperson Preeti Saran who is secretary (east) in the ministry of external affairs, the task force comprises Kamal Kishore of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Sameer Kr Khare who is joint secretary (MI) in the Department of Economic Affairs, Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, joint secretary (DM) in the ministry of home affairs and Ila Patnaik, Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
The task force has been mandated to prepare a report by 30 April 2018 on “Establishing a Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)”. Officials of the MEA and other ministries were also co-opted by the committee on need basis.
The committee met seven times to work out the report. One international workshop on “Disaster Resilient Infrastructure” was also held on 15-16 January 2018 in New Delhi to get inputs from potential partner countries. More than 180 delegates, including experts from 21 countries, multilateral development banks, the United Nations, the private sector, academics and national representatives of central and state governments participated in the workshop.