The Maharashtra State Road Improvement Project received the state cabinet's approval on Tuesday, June 2, worth more than ₹31,000 crore, including plans to improve around 1,500 km of major roads and up to 6,000 km of rural roads with financial assistance from international lending agencies.
The project has been approved to improve the condition of roads in Maharashtra and accelerate the state's goal of making it a 'one trillion dollar economy'.
For this project, approval has been given to take a loan of $1 billion each from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) in two phases.
According to officials, this project will be implemented over the next three years and the roads in the state will be developed as per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards.
A total cost of $ 715 million (about Rs 6,221 crore) is expected in the first phase with the help of AIIB and NDB. This will include an external loan of $ 500 million and the state government's share of $ 215 million. The total cost of both the phases will be about Rs 12,442 crore.
Under this project, priority will be given to roads in the 'growth corridor' with high traffic and more than 40 percent commercial vehicle traffic. This will help in making the transportation on the major economic, industrial, agricultural and commercial routes of the state faster and more efficient.
In the first phase, about 750 km of roads will be constructed through competitive tenders through EPC method through the Public Works Department with the funds of AIIB. Also, with the help of NDB, about 750 km of roads will be undertaken in the first phase.
The structure, repayment process and working procedure of the loan assistance received from both the financial institutions are similar. 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, make transportation safer, faster and more efficient. Officials expressed their belief that the cost of freight transportation will also be reduced, giving a major boost to industry, trade and the economic development of the state.