ADB and the Indian government have signed a $177 million loan to upgrade 450 km of state highways and major district roads in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra State Road Improvement Project will upgrade two major district roads and 11 state highways, with a combined length of 450 km, to a two-lane standard, across seven districts of the state. It will improve connectivity to national highways, interstate roads, seaports, airports, rail hubs, district headquarters, industrial areas, enterprise clusters and agricultural areas. Another feature of the project is the upgradation of the road maintenance system by encouraging five-year performance-based maintenance obligations for contractors to sustain asset quality and service levels.
A consortium of public sector banks has sanctioned a fresh loan of Rs 2.5 billion for the Gorakhpur Link Expressway project. The Bank of Maharashtra has also joined the consortium and Punjab National Bank and UCO Bank have already provided credit of Rs 7.5 billion and Rs 2.5 billion, respectively, for the project. The three public sector banks have provided Rs 12.5 billion for the project. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet has already granted approval for setting up the consortium of banks for funding the project. So far, 5 per cent of the physical work has been completed, including about 16 per cent earthwork.