World Bank inks $500-mn green highways corridor pact

The World Bank and the Union Government has inked a pact for a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors. MoRTH informed that the highway corridors will be developed in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project will enhance the capacity of the transport ministry in mainstreaming safety and green technologies. It will support MoRTH in constructing 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. The Government of India is committed to environmentally sustainable development in its infrastructure projects and the project will set new standards in the construction of safe motorable roads and the targeted states will also help improve connectivity and promote economic development. The project will also support analytics to map the freight volume and movement pattern on the national highway network, identify constraints, and provide innovative logistics solutions. The project will support the ministry with an in-depth analysis of gender-related issues in the transport sector and will help in creating jobs for women by training women-led micro-enterprises and women collectives to implement green technologies in the highway corridors.