During the project preparation stage, the poor quality of roads impeded the growth potential of Chhattisgarh, a newly formed state and one of the poorer states in India. The ride quality of most roads ranged from poor to very poor. Bad roads increased transport bottlenecks and resulted in poor transport services for the entire local economy, especially the rural poor and tribal populations. The institutional and technical capacity of the Public Works Department was reaching its limit in the areas of sector and investment management of state roads.
The Government of Chhattisgarh prepared a 10−Year Master Plan for Road Sector Development, 2003–2012. This became the basis for the approval of a priority investment program to improve, rehabilitate, strengthen, and widen about 5,000 kilometers of state roads. Of this length, about 1,700 km of state roads in Chhattisgarh was to be improved through a sector lending modality.
This report validates the completion report’s assessment of the project. IED overall assessment: Less than successful.