Today, an agreement was signed between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh for an additional US$190 million loan for the ongoing Rural Connectivity Improvement Project, which is upgrading rural roads, increasing the productivity of agricultural areas, and enhancing socioeconomic centers in rural Bangladesh.
The agreement was signed on behalf of each party by Edimon Ginting, the ADB Country Director for Bangladesh, and Sharifa Khan, the Economic Relations Division secretary.
“This project will help improve access to social services and boost economic in the rural areas, while making communities more resilient to climate change and natural disaster,” said the ADB Country Director Edimon.
Through this project, ADB will expand and improve rural road networks by making the road design and construction more climate and disaster resilient,” he added.
According to the ADB Country Director, this initiative also boosts agricultural productivity, creates jobs, and enhances rural transportation efficiency.
About 1,700 kilometers (km) of rural roads have been upgraded as part of the continuing project, which was approved in November 2018. It has also improved rural road master planning and strengthened the capacity of rural infrastructure agencies and road users. Since 2020, an additional 900 km of rural roads have been added to the initial program.
The renovation of an extra 1,350 km of rural roads with increased safety features and a focus on climate resilience will be extended thanks to this additional funding. The initiative will also increase the Local Government Engineering Department’s capacity to use bioengineering techniques based on natural processes for climate change adaptation.
