Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Improvement Project was approved in a state cabinet on Tuesday to improve the quality of road infrastructure in the state and accelerate the state’s goal of becoming a ‘one trillion dollar economy’. The cabinet approved the financing of $1 billion each from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) for these projects in two phases.“The project will be implemented over a period of three years to improve the roads in the state as per Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards. Under the financing of both AIIB and NDB, a total cost of $715 million (about Rs 6,221 crore) is expected in the first phase, including external financing of $500 million and state govt participation of $215 million. The total cost of both the phases will be around Rs 12,442 crore each,” officials said.“Under this project, priority will be given to the improvement of roads in the ‘Growth Corridors’, which have high traffic volumes and more than 40% commercial vehicle traffic. This will help in increasing the efficiency of transport on major economic, industrial, agricultural and commercial routes in the state. Under AIIB financing, the works of approximately 750 km of roads in the first phase will be undertaken by the Public Works Department through a competitive bidding process on EPC basis. Similarly, it is planned to undertake works of approximately 750 km of roads in the first phase under NDB financing,” officials said.“The structure, reimbursement process and working procedure of the loan assistance received from both the institutions are similar and these funds will be used for the modernization of important road corridors in the state.This decision will improve the quality of the road network in the state, making transportation safer, faster and more efficient, and will greatly help in reducing the cost of freight transportation, boosting industry and trade, and accelerating the economic development of the state,” officials said.
