Asian Development Bank

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 19, Oct 2021

Why in News?

India and ADB sign pact for development of infrastructure projects in Tripura.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $ 42 million project financing agreement for the development of basic projects in Tripura.
• Through this agreement, along with developing urban facilities in Tripura located in Northeast India, basic amenities will be developed for the tourism sector.
• This is ADB’s first project readiness financing (PRF) facility in Northeast India

About ADB:

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank.
• It was established on 19 December 1966.
• ADB is headquartered in Manila, Philippines.
• The ADB currently has 68 members, 49 of whom are from the Asia-Pacific region.
• The largest proportion of shares in ADB is from Japan.

• The Asian Development Bank is established on the lines of the World Bank. It has a weighted voting system similar to that of the World Bank, in which the franchise of a member nation is determined on the basis of that nation’s share in the bank’s authorized capital.

As of 31 December 2019, the five largest shareholders of ADB, Japan and the United States (each holding 6% of the total shares in both countries), the People’s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8 %)

Facts for Prelims:

Dark Fiber: Dark Fiber also known as unlit Fiber is an unused optical fiber that has been laid but is not currently being used in fiber-optic communications.

• Since fibre-optic cable transmits information in the form of light pulses, a “dark” cable refers to one through which light pulses are not being transmitted.
• Companies lay extra optical fibres in order to avoid cost repetition when more bandwidth is needed.
• Recently major telecom service providers in India, have approached the state-run Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) to use its dark fiber.
• It will help the telecom service providers to cut down on their capital expenditure.