World Bank to lend $350 mn for Karnataka highway project

The government of India and the World Bank on Monday signed a $350 million loan to accelerate the development of Karnataka’s core road network through the Second Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project (KSHIP II).

Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said, “The government of Karnataka has identified about 25,000 km of the most important traffic corridors and designated them as the state’s core road network. Accelerating the development of this network is critical for Karnataka’s economic growth and for ensuring a balanced development throughout the state."

According to the latest road condition survey, 39 percent of the core road network in the state requires improvement to bring it into good or fair condition. At the same time, vehicular traffic has been rapidly growing at the rate of 10 to 15 per cent per year over the last decade, the survey says.

Relatively larger number of road accidents in India occurs in Karnataka and the number of fatalities has increased by 55 per cent since 2000 to reach a rate of 140 per 100,000 vehicles in 2009, compared with rates like nine in the UK, 15 in USA and 70 in Brazil and China. The high fatality rate in Karnataka is attributed to a lack of effective road safety management and enforcement system.

"Improving infrastructure, including road transport, is key to sustaining growth and bridging regional disparities. This loan from the World Bank, introduces an important innovation by helping the Government of Karnataka leverage private sector financing through economically viable Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and thereby accelerating the development of state highways,” said Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India.

The Second Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project (KSHIP II) will help upgrade 1,231 km of roads into two-lane highways designed to facilitate better movement of people and goods; support the Government of Karnataka diversify its financing base by leveraging this loan to attract private sector funds through the PPP mode and through co-financing with domestic banks and financial institutions; and improve road safety design, management and enforcement to reduce road fatalities and major injuries, consistent with the main thrust of the 2007 Sundar Committee report.

In fact, road safety is a particular focus of the Project and the multi-donor Global Road Safety Facility is helping the Karnataka Public Works Department (PWD) carry out safety audits on two highway corridors through the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), to identify the engineering and other measures required to improve safety on KSHIP II roads.