Guwahati, July 10: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Centre today signed a $74.8 million loan to improve connectivity in the Northeast.

Official sources said this was the first part of the loan for $200 million North Eastern State Roads Investment Program.

Altogether 433.7km of roads will be improved/upgraded/constructed in six states — Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura with this loan amount.

The loan agreement was signed in New Delhi today.

The DoNER ministry is the national executing agency for the project, which is expected to be completed by 2016.

This is ADB’s first transport sector project in the region.

It calls for enhanced and IT-based capacity development of the state implementing agencies/PWD for improved road asset management, planning and project management.

Sources said the programme would target the secondary road network and aim to enhance the performance of state roads sector in the region through investments and dedicated capacity building measures.

The present investment programme was developed parallel to the Special Accelerated Road Development Program in the Northeast (SARDP-NE).

“While SARDP-NE focuses on improving national highways and other roads with strategic importance, this investment programme will improve intrastate connectivity, mainly to district headquarters and other places of administrative and economic importance in the individual states and to enhance capacity of state PWD to manage their road assets,” a source said.

A road safety programme has also been incorporated with coordinated engineering, enforcement and education components.

The $74.8 million loan will improve, which will include widening of existing sections of roads, strengthening pavements, raising embankments, and providing permanent structures at river crossings, around 200km of road in Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim.

The signatories to the loan were Venu Rajamony, joint secretary (multilateral institutions), department of economic affairs, ministry of finance, on behalf of the Centre and Hun Kim, country director for India, on behalf of the ADB.

The project agreements were signed by P.R. Meshram, a director in the DoNER ministry and commissioners and secretaries of Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajamony said building better roads would reduce isolation of the Northeast and open up growth and development opportunities in some of the country’s poorest states.

He said the improved surface-transport connectivity in the region was expected to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction and would facilitate delivery of various development schemes in other sectors within the region.

Kim said better roads in the region would also significantly improve the investment climate for the private sector, both domestic and foreign.