A rural roads investment program for five of India’s poorest states will help connect 4,200 far-flung communities to major transport grids.

It used to take Bharat Parmar and his friends, Dewan and Hemraj, close to an hour to reach the market in Ichhawar where they sell soybeans. The journey took longer on muddy roads during the rainy season.

With the construction of a rural road connecting Palkhedi village to State Highway 53, both upgraded under ADB-funded programs, it now only takes 10 minutes to get to the market even during a monsoon.

ADB’s support for the development of the road network in Madhya Pradesh, India’s second largest state, over the past decade is finally making a difference to those living in remote locations.

Strong link to poverty reduction

“The Rural Connectivity Investment Program has a very strong link to poverty reduction,” says Oleg Tonkonojenkov, senior transport specialist at ADB’s South Asia Regional Department. “The construction of all-weather roads will have a positive impact on agricultural activity, child and maternal mortality, and employment, among others.”

In a country where more than three-fifths of the population lives in rural areas, rural roads truly provide “last-mile connectivity” in the network.

ADB recently approved an $800 million investment program to help India continue to provide far-flung communities with greater access to markets and services by building rural roads that connect to highways. The program is expected to benefit 4,200 communities in five of the country’s poorest states.

“The Rural Connectivity Investment Program has a very strong link to poverty reduction,” says Oleg Tonkonojenkov, senior transport specialist at ADB’s South Asia Regional Department. “The construction of all-weather roads will have a positive impact on agricultural activity, child and maternal mortality, and employment, among others.”

“The villages are now cut off from mainstream activities—businesses, markets, healthcare, etc. The dirt roads are not durable and they are difficult to walk on,” he says.

End-to-end connection

The latest investment program will build 9,000 kilometers of rural roads in the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and West Bengal by the end of 2017. It is part of the Indian government’s nationwide rural roads program, which has already built nearly 109,000 kilometers of rural roads in the five states, connecting nearly 40,000 communities to major transport grids. ADB has been supporting the program since 2003 with two projects amounting to $1.15 billion. This is in addition to the assistance ADB has been providing for the development of the country’s national and state highways over the past 25 years.

“Maximum benefit to the poor and less privileged segments of society is achieved when different types of road networks meet,” says Shamit Chakravarti, social sector economist at ADB’s South Asia Regional Department.

“You have to be there for 10 to 15 years, building roads and capacity. You keep pushing until the social and economic benefits come. There are no shortcuts,” he remarks.

Field visits and preliminary evaluation work show that the first two ADB rural road programs have helped improve the quality of life in the villages by reducing travel time and cost, increasing rural incomes and jobs, and providing access to markets, hospitals, and schools.

Better roads have enabled 12-year-old Kumari Kiya to attend school regularly. Before the road improvement, the student from Kendupara village in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh could not make the trip on the dirt road because of a physical disability. Now, she can go to school on a special tricycle that her family built for her.

School attendance in Chhattisgarh has improved across the board because of better road safety and reduced travel time. The number of children not enrolled in primary school has gone down by 8% from pre-project levels.

Maximum benefit, minimum risk

Road safety, a key element of ADB projects since 1995, is an important feature of the latest program, says Tonkonojenkov. “All-weather roads are different from dirt roads in terms of traffic rules and the type and speed of vehicles that these can accommodate. The road safety program will target parents and teachers who can help spread awareness among children and students.”

“The program is more than just building all-weather roads,” he adds. “It is about increasing capacity of road agencies to improve the sustainability of roads, their quality and design. We are putting in place a performance-based maintenance for contractors to help ensure consistent adherence to performance standards, including linking payments to the achievement of standards and incentives for consistency. The program provides technical assistance for the whole project cycle—from planning to construction and maintenance.”

Greater participation of the community in the design and planning of the roads is also expected to ensure that they will benefit fully from the investment program.

“During the preparatory phase, the project will conduct a transect walk across the project area to gather information from the community. We will get suggestions from the people on how to improve positive impacts and minimize any negative impact on agriculture and the community,” explains Tonkonojenkov.

Improving the quality of life of millions of Indian citizens living in rural areas is a mammoth task that will require time and effort at so many levels, of which the development of rural connectivity is a crucial one.