World Bank and India signed an agreement worth $500 million to develop safe and green national highway corridors

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On Tuesday, 22nd December,2020, India and World Bank signed an agreement of $500 million to develop safe and green national highway corridors in four states of India, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

About

• This project will enhance the dimensions of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways in establishing safe and green technologies.
• Under this project 783 km of highways will be developed in various geographies by integrating eco-friendly and safe technology designs.
• Industrial byproducts, local and marginal materials, as well as other bioengineering solutions would be used in building safe motorable roads.
• This is going to enhance connectivity and also promote economic development.
• The ultimate objective of this project is to provide uninterrupted connectivity with reduced logistics cost.
• Although Government has launched many programmes to improve logistic cost but the Green National Highway Corridors Project will support analytics to map the freight volume as well as movement pattern on the National Highway network and also find out solutions of its weaknesses.
• This project will help in creating job opportunities for women by guiding women-led micro-enterprises as well as women collectives to implement green technologies in the corridors of national highways.
• It will provide smooth and efficient transportation for road users in the four states, connect people easily with markets and promote efficient use of construction materials, among others.
• This project is will strengthen the load carrying capacity of highways, construct new pavements and bypasses, also improve the drainage system. It will also ensure all road safety measures to avoid accidents.
• It is a climate-resilient infrastructure investment project therefore disaster risk assessment of about 5,000 km of the National Highway network will also be undertaken under this project.
• The time period granted by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is 18.5 years including 5 years of grace period.

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low and middle income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. It was created in 1944 at Bretton Woods Conference along with IMF. It is a family of five international organizations.

• International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
• International Development Association (IDA)
• International Finance Corporation (IFC)
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
• International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

International Board of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution that was established in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. It is the lending arm of World Bank Group.

It offers loans to middle-income developing countries. The IBRD is the first of five member institutions that compose the World Bank Group. The first mission of the IBRD in 1944 was to finance the reconstruction of European nations devastated by World War II.

The IBRD and its concessional lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA), are collectively known as the World Bank as they share the same leadership and staff.