By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, DEC 23, 2020: THE World Bank on Tuesday signed a USD500-million project to build safe and green national highway corridors and enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The Green National Highway Corridors Project will support MoRTH in constructing 783km of highways in the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh thus helping to improve connectivity and promote economic development.

The highways will be built in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial by-products, and other bioengineering solutions. This will also enhance the capacity of the ministry in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.

The project will also support analytics to map the freight volume and movement pattern on the national highway network, identify constraints, and provide innovative logistics solutions.

"Connectivity for economic growth and connectivity for sustainable development are two important aspects of a country's development trajectory. This operation brings these two priorities together in support of India's growth strategy," said Mr Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India.

He added that the project will provide efficient transportation for road users in the four states, connect people with markets and services, promote efficient use of construction materials and water to reduce the depletion of scarce natural resources, and help lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The national highways carry about 40% of road traffic. However, several sections of these highways have inadequate capacity, weak drainage structures and black spots prone to accidents.

The project will strengthen and widen existing structures, construct new pavements, drainage facilities and bypasses, improve junctions, and introduce road safety features.

As it is imperative that the infrastructure investments are climate resilient., disaster risk assessment of about 5,000 km of the national highway network will also be undertaken under the project along with support to ministry for mainstreaming climate resilience aspects in project design and implementation.

The USD500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 18.5 years, including a grace period of five years.