Road design to cover heavy rainfall and storm surges

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lending US$250 million for the construction of 6,254 kilometres all-weather rural roads in the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

The First Tranche Loan is part of the US$500 million Second Rural Connectivity Investment Program for India approved by the ADB Board in December 2017.

The program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12,000-km Rural Roads across the 5 States.

The loan was signed witht the Indian Goverment on 30 Jan 2018 in New Delhi.

Mr. Sameer Kumar, Khare, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, said that the ADB-funded investment program will provide continued assistance to the Government’s long-term goal for rural development.

About 2,000 technical personnel would be trained on road safety and maintenance under the project.

Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, said that the investment program will support the Government’s drive for innovative approaches to reduce costs, conserve non-renewable natural resources, and promote the use of waste materials in rural road construction.

He said that road maintenance will be ensured through the provision of a 5-year post-construction maintenance in each civil works contract.

The investment program builds on the US$800 million ADB-financed first Rural Connectivity Investment Program in 2012 that added about 9,000 kilometres of all-weather rural roads in the same States.

The road designs will take into account heavy rainfall and storm surges in the five states with measures such as greater elevation of road embankments, slope protection, and better drainage in flood-prone areas. fii-news.com