India, ADB ink $200 mn loan pact to improve Bihar's state highways

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) The Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed a $200-million loan agreement for improving Bihar's state highways.A Finance Ministry release said that under the agreement signed here, ADB would provide the loan to finance the widening and upgrading of about 230 km of state highways in Bihar to all-weather standards with road safety features. It said this loan will aid the efforts of the Bihar government to upgrade all state highways to meet the minimum two-lane standard with better surfaces and improved road safety, leading to improved connectivity. "Since 2008, ADB has provided four loans to Bihar, amounting to $1.43 billion, to upgrade about 1,453 km of State Highways and to construct a new bridge over the Ganga river near Patna," it added.
--IANS bc/shs/vm