NEW DELHI: Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB), on Monday, October 19, jointly signed a $177 million loan to improve 450 kilometres (km) of state highways and major district roads in Maharashtra. The project committee of the Maharashtra State Road Improvement Project included Sameer Khare, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Recent Mission.
Khare said that the project will enhance connectivity between urban and rural areas in the state, easing mobility of rural communities to better access to job opportunities and other services. Yokoyama added that the initiative will also improve road safety measures by advancing a road safety audit framework that will safeguard vulnerable groups such as women, children and older people, following the international best practice. He also said that another aspect of the initiative is to improve road maintenance systems by facilitating five-year performance-based maintenance challenges to contractors to maintain asset quality and service levels.
The plan will develop two major district roads and eleven state highways with a collective length of 450 km. It will improve the connectivity to hospitals, airports, seaports, agricultural areas, among others, in urban areas of the state of Maharashtra. The focus of the project will also be on tutoring the Maharashtra Public Works Department project staff to develop their capacity in climate change adaption and disaster-resistant features in road design, maintenance planning and road safety.