The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India today signed a $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up the improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in the state of Maharashtra.

The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 kilometers (km) in 34 districts. The ongoing project with $200 million financing, approved in August 2019, is already enhancing and maintaining the condition and safety of 2,100 km of rural roads across Maharashtra.

The signatories to the loan agreement were Ministry of Finance’s Department of Economic Affairs Additional Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra, who signed for the Government of India, and ADB Country Director for India Takeo Konishi, who signed for ADB.