The World Bank today agreed to extend a $1.5 billion loan to India for building 24,000 km of all-weather roads in rural areas.
The aid will be used to fund the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in seven economically poor areas of hilly states like Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Punjab and Uttarakhand. Other states may also be included in the programme in the next five years.
This is the largest ever rural roads project approved by the World Bank and is expected to benefit more than six million people. An agreement was signed today in the presence of World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
WB said the project will enable participating states to achieve 91 per cent connectivity in the next five years by building new roads and improving the links of the existing network. The project will also be partly funded by the Government of India.
WB signed another agreement to provide $225 million to support the first phase of India’s national programme to mitigate the impact of cyclones. The project marked the first disaster risk mitigation initiative to be implemented in India.
