New Delhi, 2nd July 2015: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has announced appointment of Mr Takema Sakamoto as the new Chief Representative of JICA India Office. Mr Sakamoto has rich experience working for JICA, including the task as the former Chief Representative of JICA Iraq Office, and he has taken over a job from Mr Shinya Ejima who completed his tenure in India in this June. JICA is Japanese governmental agency to channelise the country's official development assistance (ODA), extending concessional loans, technical cooperation and grant-aid in an integrated manner to facilitate socio-economic development in developing partner countries.

JICA has committed about JPY 300 billion (approx Rs 16,000 crore) each year on an average over the previous three years in ODA loans to India to facilitate enhancement of transport infrastructure, water and sanitation facilities, energy availability, agricultural productivity and forest resource management, among others. Japan first extended development assistance to India in 1958 through an ODA loan of JPY 18 billion to supplement implementation of the Second Five Year Plan of India. Since then, over JPY 4,000 billion (approx Rs 240,000 crore) in the form of ODA loans have been committed for various development projects according to strategies and priorities of India. JICA, through its Technical Cooperation program, also has been facilitating participation in training courses in Japan of over 6,800 Indian personnel and dispatch of over 5,500 Japanese experts to India to share know-how and advanced technology, over the last 40 years. Through its Grant Financial Aid program, in addition, JICA has supported in various fields such as healthcare facility and educational institution development.

India has recently become the largest beneficiary of ODA from JICA, and such JICA's support is expected to cover substantial parts of the effort to mobilize JPY 3.5 trillion (approx. USD 30 billion) of Japanese investment into India in five years as announced during the 2014 Tokyo summit meeting between Prime Ministers Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Shinzo Abe.

On assuming office, Mr Sakamoto said, "It is an extremely exciting time to be in India. Although it is deemed that India should be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India is currently still facing various challenges, and thus, JICA is keen to proactively contribute to promoting dynamic and inclusive development, obtaining participation of citizens from both India and Japan. The guiding mantra of JICA's assistance is to support self-help effort, and we are poised to take further the rich legacy of JICA in India."

On-going projects facilitated by JICA in India include Metro-rail networks in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata; Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor; power transmission/distribution upgradation in Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru and Hyderabad; water and sanitation improvement in Delhi, Bengaluru, Agra, Amritsar, Varanasi, Guwahati, Goa, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Hyderabad, Kerala, Nagaur district (Rajasthan) and Purulia district (West Bengal) and across Tamil Nadu; irrigation facility development in Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; forest ecology management in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal; development of Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH); investment promotion program in Tamil Nadu; Champions for Societal Manufacturing (CSM) program for strengthening of the manufacturing sector; enhancement of facilities at Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Chennai, among others.

JICA is also conducting Feasibility Study of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Corridor jointly with India, Master Plan Study of Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and Master Plan Study of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in Bengaluru and Mysore, among others.

ODA loans are significantly low-interest and long-term funds suitable for large-scale development; Technical Cooperation entails human resource and administrative-process development through training of Indian personnel in Japan and introduction of experts from Japan to project sites in India; Grant Financial Aid entails provision of funds without the obligation for repayment, for development of various basic infrastructure.