Beijing bank gives loan for Gujarat roads

GNN | Aug 06, 2017, 4:56 PM IST|

New Delhi, Aug 4: Beijing headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has given a loan of $329million for development of a rural road network in Gujarat. The loan agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, joint secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Dr DJ Pandian, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, AIIB.
The Project Agreement was signed between A.K. Patel, Chief Engineer (Panchayat) and Additional Secretary, roads and building department, Government of Gujarat and Dr DJ Pandian.
The project aims to improve rural road connectivity and accessibility to 1,060 villages in all the 33 districts in Gujarat state benefiting about eight million people.
Apart from that, the project will also benefit the service providers such as public transport operators, educational institutions, hospitals, local markets and traders.
The two main components of the project are construction and up-gradation of Non-Plan Roads (NPRs) and up-gradation of planned roads.