The Asian Development Bank will provide $21.2 million for the development of information and communications technology in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal by enhancing the availability of affordable broadband internet connections, skilled manpower, local contents and internet applications to promote growth and reduce poverty.

‘The grant will be provided under the $24 million South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation Information Highway Project,’ said a statement of the manila based organisation on Monday.

The ADB will provide a $4.7 million grant to Bhutan, $9 million to Nepal and $3.1 million to Bangladesh under the project. The governments of the four member countries of the SASEC will finance $7.2 million of the total project cost.

The ADB will also extend a $4.4 million grant to increase technical and business skills in developing local ICT and internet applications, particularly for the poor.

The project will establish a SASEC regional network with fibre optic cable and data interchange capacity directly connecting the four member countries.

It will also set up a SASEC village network to expand broadband access to 110 rural communities in the SASEC countries and provide direct connections for the communities for local networking and information sourcing.

The project will establish a SASEC research and training network to build technical and business skills in developing local ICT contents and internet applications.

‘Cross-border connectivity among SASEC countries is considered a critical area in need of regional cooperation, as the development of information and communications technology infrastructure across borders has been fragmented and often outdated,’ said Dong-Soo Pyo, principal financial analysis specialist of the ADB’s South Asia department.

Internet traffic in the South Asia region often goes through third parties and depends on satellite transmission. Regionally integrated and high-quality broadband capacity would do away with third-party connections, optimise the cost of interconnection within the region, help to bring down the prices of ICT services, and boost ICT use across borders.

The SASEC initiative was launched in 2001 with ADB assistance to support and facilitate regional cooperation initiatives in six priority sectors: energy and power; environment; information and communication technology; tourism; trade, investment and private sector cooperation; and transport.