ADB approves US $10cr loan for road development

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of US $10 crore on easy conditions to expand the coverage of an ongoing rural road network improvement project in Bangladesh.

The current road network development, under the Rural Connectivity Improvement Project, will be scaled up from 1,700 kilometers (km) to 2,630 km of rural roads through this financing.

This project has been undertaken to upgrade the rural roads of 21 districts which became useless for movement due to the 2017 flood.

A press release issued from the ADB's Dhaka office on Monday (June 15) noon came up with the information.

The impact and outcome of the overall project are expected to be further enhanced with the coverage of additional geographic areas and increase in beneficiaries. The expanded project will benefit 40.2 million inhabitants, the release said.

The project, which is being implemented in 180 upazilas of 34 districts under five divisions, is expected to be completed by 2023, it added.

The project included repair of 2,210 km upazila roads, 495 km union roads and tree plantation in the roads of 250 km.

Regarding the issue, ADB Senior Water Resources Specialist Olivier Drieu said, “The increased support brings more rural communities closer and faster to economic development activities, which accelerates the delivery of produce and services from agricultural lands to markets."


Dhaka/Hasibul/AI