The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a $140 million loan for enhancing rural connectivity in Madhya Pradesh.
- The project, is co-financed with the World Bank.
Aim
- It aims to improve the rural road connectivity and management for residents of about 5,640 villages who use the rural roads for daily activities. It also aims to improve durability and accessibility and enhance resilience to climate change of gravel surfaced rural road in Madhya Pradesh. It will also employ more women, thus contributing to gender equality and income generation.
Advantages
- It will benefit around 1.5 million rural residents through improved livelihood, education and mobility.
- Livelihood of the rural population will be improved by expanding income earning opportunities through better farm-to-market road connections.
- It is expected that it will not only improve the attendance of children in schools but also increase their enrolment in higher education programmes.
- The road maintenance pilot under the project will employ more women, contributing to gender equality and income generation.
- Investment in rural infrastructure will promote sustainable growth in India.
- It would help in enhancing the overall development in the region and thus reducing the financial gap.
- It will provide sustainable and safe last-mile connectivity to small villages and improve mobility of rural population of Madhya Pradesh.
Planned activities
- Develop road safety management capacity with road accident data management system and pilot comprehensive road safety program.
- Upgrade gravel surfaced roads to sealed surface standard.
- Strengthen design and research and quality assurance capacity of implementing agency.
- Provide additional linkages to villages with potential for high growth.
- Enhance institutional capacity through implementing and upgrading rural road asset management system.
AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank)
- AIIB is multilateral development bank initiated by China with a purpose to provide finance to projects on infrastructure development and regional connectivity in Asia-Pacific region. AIIB was officially established in December 2015 and it opened its business in January 2016. It has its headquarters in Beijing, China. China is the largest stakeholder of AIIB whereas India is the second largest stakeholder. It aims to boost economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, provide infrastructure and promote regional cooperation and partnership.
