ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday approved $140 million in loans to help improve the provincial road network, enhance road safety and road maintenance management in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The project was conceived in an attempt to improve the quality of transportation as upgrading the highway network will help with increased intra and inter-regional connectivity in trade, communication and economic well-being of the population.

This will also benefit the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the long run and serve as a tool towards reducing poverty in the province.

The initial technical ranking has been adjusted to ensure a more even distribution of roads across the province, especially road rehabilitation in the Haripur district which was needed urgently.

The Provincial Roads Improvement Project will rehabilitate eight road sections in KP with a total length of 214km to meet provincial highway standards, while also improving road safety and providing climate resilience features to withstand potential damage from floods and other natural disasters.

The project will also implement two pilot performance-based maintenance contracts covering about 104km of provincial roads to help in the maintenance and operations of the road assets.

These types of contracts change the role of a contractor from being a project executor to road asset manager. It will also help strengthen capacity of relevant government agencies including the Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority.

The total cost of the project is $164m, with the government of Pakistan contributing $24m. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2017