The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in the state of Maharashtra.

The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 kilometers (km) in 34 districts. The ongoing project with $200 million financing, approved in August 2019, is already improving and maintaining the condition and safety of 2,100 km of rural roads across Maharashtra.

The signatories to the loan agreement were Mr. Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signing for the Government of India, and Mr. Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission signing for ADB.

“With the additional financing, the overall project will improve the condition and safety of 5,000 km of rural roads and over 200 bridges connecting rural communities with productive agricultural areas and socioeconomic centers in Maharashtra,” said Mr. Mishra after signing the loan agreement.

“Improved connectivity through climate-resilient, all-weather rural roads will help accelerate Maharashtra’s economic recovery from COVID-19 shock by generating rural employment and transforming agriculture,” said Mr. Konishi.

The new project is expected to generate about 3.1 million person-days of employment for local communities, of which at least 25% will be for women, over the construction and maintenance periods. A gender action plan has been prepared to focus on capacity development of women workers so that they can benefit from the semiskilled and unskilled labor opportunities.

This additional financing will rebuild and rehabilitate roads and bridges in Maharashtra destroyed by the devastating floods in August 2019. The design incorporates flood and climate resilience measures, pilot test the use of environment-friendly materials on selected road segments, use of mobile mapping technology to monitor the project roads and utilize new technologies such as fiber-reinforced concrete and pre-cast concrete arch bridge.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members-49 from the region.

Additional financing expands rural road and bridge upgrades, enhancing climate-resilient connectivity and local employment opportunities. The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank executed a loan agreement providing additional financing to expand the Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project, adding 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges to raise total upgraded length to about 2,900 km under the new tranche and 5,000 km overall; the financing focuses on rebuilding flood-damaged infrastructure with flood- and climate-resilient designs, and links investment to local employment generation, a Gender Action Plan, environmentally friendly material pilots, mobile mapping monitoring, and new construction technologies.