Loans of $740m secured for Indian road upgrades

Japan International Cooperation Agency has signed a loan agreement with the Indian government to provide up to 22.903bn yen ($740m) for the Bihar National Highway Improvement Project at New Delhi, India.

Under the Bihar National Highway Improvement Project, National Highway 83, which connects Patna to Gaya and Dobhi, will be widened into four lanes. Widening will be carried out along approximately 127km of the roadway and will also include construction of bypasses, bridges and service roads to meet the rapidly rising demand for road transportation.

The loan funds will be allocated for road construction and consulting services.
In 2012, the National Highways in India network constituted 76,818km, or about 2% of the total national road network of 4.11 million km. However, NHI's roads bear about 40% of transportation on the road network as a whole, and are therefore highly critical.

Also, only around  23% of the total National Highways have four lanes. In such a scenario, improving the national highway network to meet the growing demand for road transportation is an urgent issue.
In its 12th Five Year Plan, running from April 2012 to March 2017, the Indian government plans to implement improvements to the main trunk roads, mainly through the promotion of National Highways Development Project, thus contributing to the better mobility and accessibility.