Bihar Water Security and Irrigation Modernization Project (WB-P505190)

Countries
  • India
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Bihar
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Sep 9, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of India - Water Resources Department (WRD), Government of Bihar
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Law and Government
  • Water and Sanitation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 386.31 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 551.87 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Feb 26, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Oct 14, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the objective of this project is to improve irrigation services and enhance flood resilience in Bihar.

The Government of Bihar (GoB) has approached the World Bank to help strengthen water resources management, where water-related natural disasters and irrigation converge. The proposed Bihar Water Security and Irrigation Modernization Project (BWSIMP, the Project) will help address the aforementioned challenges through investments (in infrastructure and non-structural measures) and institution strengthening. Specifically, the Project will focus on improving water governance through stronger stakeholder partnership and enhanced institutional capacity, ensuring that learning can be established and scaled up across the entire state.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Environmental risks and impacts: There are no protected areas near the project footprint. However, important aquatic life, e.g., Gangetic Dolphins and turtles, are observed in rivers under consideration and Government of India studies identify River Kosi as a “Critical Area” for dolphins. However, given the nature of interventions in canal modernization, no significant changes in river flows are envisaged that can impact dolphin habitat. This aspect will be further studied during preparation, and suitable measures designed. The key risks during the construction include (i) Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues due to waterside works; (ii) likely impacts on ecology and habitats - both aquatic and riparian; (iii) management of desilted material from canals; and (iv) pressure on natural resources (expectedly boulder pitching, or gabion wall works), vi) health risk to construction workers, e.g. malaria and Kala azar. Other issues during construction, like dust and noise, delays in obtaining regulatory permits, and slippages in compliance conditions are local and moderate and can be mitigated through good construction practices and effective monitoring. The environmental risks for the project are Substantial.

Social risks and impacts: The risks include (i) physical and economic resettlement of non-title holders along select structures identified for renovation; (ii) temporary negative impacts to communities (including community health and safety or access issues) due to civil works; (iii) labor influx and management of labor working conditions, including Sexual Exploitation and Abuse/ Sexual Harassment (SEA/SH); (iv) exclusion of vulnerable (scheduled castes; other backward classes; small, marginal, landless farmers and women) under PIM (Participatory Irrigation Management) and or in WUAs (Water User Associations). Creation of new irrigation structures, private land acquisition and impact on tribal communities is not envisaged. The social risk rating is Substantial.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: US$ 386.31 million

Borrower/Recipient: US$ 165.56 million


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

World Bank

Satya Priya LNU
Senior Water Resources Management Specialist

Mehul Jain
Disaster Risk Management Specialist

Borrower/Client/Recipient

India

Simrandeep Singh
Director
simrandeep.iasjk@nic.in

Manisha Sinha
Additional Secretary
manisha.sinha@nic.in

Implementing Agencies

Water Resources Department (WRD), Government of Bihar

Santosh Kumar Mall
Principal Secretary
wrd-bih@nic.in

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

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How it works