World Bank approves $500-mn for green highways

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in mainstreaming safety and green technologies as the country's road network of 5.48 million km carries 65 percent of freight traffic and 85 percent of passenger traffic. The traffic volume on the network has been growing at a CAGR of 10.8 percent in the past six decades. The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support MoRTH to construct 783 km of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts, and other bioengineering solutions, and help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of highways.