Transportation systems in India play a pivotal role in economic and social development of a region by facilitating movement of citizens and goods and at the same time provide economies of scale. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor being implemented by National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India (GOI), is expected to significantly contribute to urban mobility in the National Capital Region (NCR) and alongside shall also enable economic opportunities, thereby ameliorating the socio-economic predicament of the inhabitants of the NCR.

Japan established the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (original JFPR) in the year 2000 to augment and drive Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) projects supporting poverty reduction and related social development activities in Asia and the Pacific.

On 8 September 2020, a Grant Agreement was signed between Government of India and ADB for Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS wherein ADB agreed to make the proceeds of the Grant from original JFPR available to NCRTC. The JFPR grant of USD 3 million supports the Sustainable Development Goal 11.2 which focuses on “providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by extending public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, differently abled and older persons.” This grant is in line with country partnership strategy 2018-2022 of ADB for India and its emphasis on supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment across sectors, and is included in ADB’s country operations business plan, 2020-2022 for India.

Evolving global dynamics as well as various universal challenges such as global warming, covid-19 pandemic and an enhanced need of improved infrastructure to alleviate such daunting issues, led ADB to rechristen the original JFPR to enhanced Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (enhanced JFPR) in September 2021 to dilate the scope in order to encompass wider range of challenges battled by Asia and the Pacific.

To achieve the overall objective, in addition to original JFPR’s focus on poverty reduction, the enhanced JFPR focuses on universal health coverage, climate change and disaster risk management, quality infrastructure investment, and public finance management, as the priority areas.

The enhanced scope of JFPR also focuses on building a sustainable society and foundation to enable a prosperous future while alongside continuing to support vulnerable groups.

Building on the achievements and momentum gained in the last two decade by original JFPR, this new encapsulating scope is envisaged as the next-level work to emancipate remaining populations above the poverty threshold and accomplish equality on a sustainable path to prosperity and resilience by increasing JFPR’s impact.

JFPR Grant, administered by ADB, envisions Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor as a harbinger of socio-economic empowerment in contributing manifold towards an optimistic shift in social and economic milieu across Ghaziabad and Meerut districts of Uttar Pradesh region of India.