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ADB okays $240-million loan to India for road system

The Asian Development Bank said on Thursday it had approved a $240 million loan to India to modernise part of its national highway system.

The bank said in a statement it would also provide a technical assistance grant worth $700,000 to help the National Highways Authority of India draw up a plan on how to raise capital and develop a strategy to transform the agency into an autonomous body.

The project will upgrade the 259-km section of the transport corridor that links Delhi in northern India, Calcutta in the east, Madras in the south and Bombay in the west.

The section will be converted from a two-lane to a four-lane highway. It will also include overbridges for pedestrians and fences.

Road safety is a major concern in India, where 80,000 people lost their lives in road accidents in 1999.

The ADB loan will fund 64 per cent of the total project cost of $378 million with the government providing the remaining $138 million.

The loan will have a 25-year term including a grace period of five years. The project is expected to be completed by June 2005.

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