New Delhi, July 23: The Asian Development Bank has decided to step in where the government has failed.

The bank has promised $300 million as assistance to the Northeast.

An ambitious plan to ensure basic infrastructure in the country by 2012, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, under the urban development ministry, aims at providing state governments with an opportunity to improve water, sewage, waste, roads, housing and transport.

The Northeast may be entitled to the largest grant from the Centre — 90 per cent — but as the allocation under the mission is based on population, the region gets the smallest share of the Rs 1,00,000- crore investment.

The ministry of urban development had been trying to give these states special attention for better utilisation of resources, but with financial constraints because of loan waiver and other promises, the corpus of funds was not readily available.

“We had written to the finance ministry asking them for a bigger allotment,” the secretary to the urban development ministry, M. Ramachandran, said this week. “But the total amount earmarked for the Northeast was linked to the additional resources available. Now, however, the ADB has come forward to help.”

Cities in the Northeast identified for revitalisation under the mission are Guwahati, Itanagar, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, Gangtok and Agartala.

The total cost of the projects approved for the region till September is pegged at Rs 8,000 crore.

The states will, however, have to draw up detailed plans to get the assistance.