The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Bangladesh today signed an agreement for $190 million in additional loans for the ongoing Rural Connectivity Improvement Project that is upgrading rural roads, making agricultural areas more productive, and improving socioeconomic centres in rural Bangladesh.
Sharifa Khan, secretary of the Economic Relations Division, and Edimon Ginting, ADB country director for Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB, respectively.
“This project will help improve access to social services and boost economic opportunities in the rural areas while making communities more resilient to climate change and natural disasters,” said Country Director Edimon Ginting. Through this project, ADB will expand and improve rural road networks by making the road design and construction more climate and disaster-resilient”, Ginting added.
This project will also help improve transport efficiency in rural areas, boost agricultural productivity, and generate employment, he said.
The ongoing project, approved in November 2018, has upgraded about 1,700 kilometres (km) of rural roads, strengthen the capacity of rural infrastructure agencies and road users and improve rural road master planning.
More than 900 km of rural roads have been added to the original target since 2020.
This additional financing will further extend the improvement of another 1,350 km of rural roads with climate resilience design and improved safety features. The project also strengthens the capability of the Local Government Engineering Department in adopting nature-based bioengineering solutions for climate change adaptation.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.