India : Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience of the Madhya Pradesh Road Network Project

Project Name

Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience of the Madhya Pradesh Road Network Project

Project Number

56364-001

Country / Economy

• India

Project Status

Active

Project Type / Modality of Assistance

• Loan

Source of Funding / Amount

Loan 4361-IND: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience of the Madhya Pradesh Road Network Project

Source	Amount
Ordinary capital resources	US$ 175.00 million

Operational Priorities

• OP1: Addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities
• OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality
• OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability
• OP5: Promoting rural development and food security
• OP6: Strengthening governance and institutional capacity

Sector / Subsector

• Transport / Road transport (non-urban)

Gender

Effective gender mainstreaming

Description

The project will support the development of Madhya Pradesh's road subsector by (i) connecting the less-developed rural population to city and town centers or industrial corridors; (ii) preparing the road subsector development strategy, focusing on emerging areas in the subsector, including climate change resilience, low-carbon development, and road safety; and (iii) creating more opportunities, directly or indirectly, for women in project-influenced areas through enhanced access to markets and other social amenities, as well as in the subsector through the promotion of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in the workplace.

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Despite its recent economic growth, Madhya Pradesh is one of India's lagging states. Its per capita net state domestic product in fiscal year (FY) 2021 was less than 70% of the national gross domestic product per capita. Nearly 37% of its population is multidimensionally poor, higher than the national average of 25% and fourth highest in India. The state government of Madhya Pradesh is promoting economic development through industrialization and private investment, such as the development of industrial nodes on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and in other industrial areas and growth centers. Because of the state's large size, dependence on agriculture, and distributed industrial development, transport infrastructure, particularly roads, are an essential asset to facilitate further economic growth.

Roads are the predominant transport mode in Madhya Pradesh, with the network consisting of 8,853 kilometers (km) of national highways, 9,089 km of state highways, 23,401 km of major district roads, 27,313 km of other district roads, 30,691 km of urban roads, and 232,331 km of village roads. The lower-than-national average road density increases transport costs and limits possibilities of economic development. In addition to the relatively low density, the traffic movement in Madhya Pradesh is significantly restricted by its road network capacity, with 58% of the state highways and 80% of the MDRs in single- to intermediate-lane with 3.75 to 5.50 meters carriageway width.

The state government aims to augment the capacity of the road network for seamless and faster connectivity across Madhya Pradesh by connecting all division and district headquarters, major commercial cities, industrial towns, and places of tourist importance by four-lane or two-lane roads. State highways and MDRs were developed through public-private partnerships, where possible. As of December 2022, the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation Limited has improved 18,855 km of roads under different schemes, among which 6,146 km (32.6%) was completed under build-operate-transfer.

Improved connectivity in the state road network, including enhanced safety features, will enable balanced economic development in Madya Pradesh. Gender and socially inclusive development will be fostered by providing better access to markets and basic services and by promoting GESI in the workplace. More importantly, the transition to a low-carbon, inclusive, sustainable, and climate-resilient road system will be supported by (i) sustainable maintenance of assets through increased private sector involvement; (ii) identification and prioritization of essential road infrastructure to improve climate resilience, aligned with India's nationally determined contributions; (iii) development of a decarbonization pathway for the state's road subsector; and (iv) proactive identification and addressing of road safety risks for all road users through a holistic road safety assessment.

Impact

Accelerated and incremental growth supported by sustainable development in Madhya Pradesh achieved

Project Outcome

Description of Outcome

Road transport efficiency and safety improved across 14 districts in Madhya Pradesh

Progress Toward Outcome

Implementation Progress

Description of Project Outputs

State highways and major district roads improved with climate- and disaster-resilient, and EWCD-friendly and safety features

Capacity of the state road agency enhanced

Gender equality and social inclusion promoted in the road works

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)

Geographical Location

Madhya Pradesh

Safeguard Categories

Environment

B

Involuntary Resettlement

B

Indigenous Peoples

B

Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects

Environmental Aspects

The project will fund the improvement of 13 existing roads, where the proposals will mainly follow existing alignments. None of these roads are located within eco-sensitive, protected, or key biodiversity areas, but some are located along reserved forests. Width will be mainly restricted to the existing carriageway in forest areas, but wildlife measures will be adopted where wildlife movement has been reported. Most impacts are typical of road construction of this scale and are mostly limited to the construction phase. Sensitive receptors have been identified and mitigation measures have been captured in the initial environmental examination (IEE) and road-specific environment management plans. MPRDC is well experienced in implementing ADB projects, with dedicated environmental staff. The independent engineer who will monitor day-to-day implementation will also have a dedicated, competent environment specialist to ensure compliance with ADB's Safeguard Policy Statement (2009), and applicable laws and regulations. The grievance redressal system of the project will follow the set-up notified in the previous loans. The findings of the environmental assessment as well as the proposed road improvement were discussed with stakeholders and affected communities in all project roads to gather their views and support the impact assessment process. Views and inputs from these consultations were incorporated in the IEE and in the design as much as feasible. The final IEEs and environment monitoring reports have been disclosed in ADB and MPRDC websites as well as in village offices. Environment monitoring reports will be submitted annually during construction and operation until the ADB Project Completion Report is prepared.

Involuntary Resettlement

The project minimizes involuntary resettlement impacts by keeping the widening of the roads within the existing right-of-way. It is anticipated that private land acquisition will not be required because road improvements will use the available right-of-way of existing roads. However, non-land assets of non-titled households and encroachers will be affected in 5 of the 13 project roads. It is estimated that 69 private structures belonging to 64 households (i.e., 359 persons) will be impacted. Out of the 64 project affected households, 51 households will experience not significant impacts while 13 households (i.e., 56 persons) will be impacted significantly by full physical displacement from residential structures. Of the total affected private structures, 41 structures are commercial, 24 are residential, and 4 are combined residential and commercial. Apart from private structures, 16 common property resources will be affected. The MPRDC has prepared five resettlement plans, one for each project road with involuntary resettlement impacts based on feasibility studies, social impact assessment, and consultations with various stakeholders. The resettlement plans have provisions on entitlements, grievance redress mechanism, budget, and institutional arrangements to ensure that resettlement plans are properly implemented. The MPRDC has the capacity to implement the resettlement activities adequately as it had already implemented similar road projects financed by ADB. The Environmental and Social Cell of MPRDC will be responsible for ensuring social safeguards compliance of project roads. The MPRDC will prepare semi-annual social monitoring reports and submit them to ADB for disclosure. The resettlement plans and combined resettlement plan and indigenous peoples plan have been disclosed in ADB and MPRDC websites as well as in village offices.

Indigenous Peoples

Two project roads, Shivpuri-Tongra Road in Shivpuri District and Samnapur-Gadasari Road in Dindori District will potentially affect eight scheduled tribe households through involuntary resettlement. They are nontitled households who live individually alongside the project roads. Apart from involuntary resettlement, no other potential adverse impacts on scheduled tribes are expected. The affected households and the larger scheduled tribe communities in the areas influenced by the project roads will benefit from better connectivity and access to livelihood, education, and health services in ways that will not harm their status as members of scheduled tribes. Therefore, no Indigenous People Plans are required for the project roads and the potential adverse impacts on scheduled tribe households will be mitigated through provisions in the entitlement matrix. However, in Dindori District, which is a scheduled tribe district as per the Constitution of India because majority of the population belong to scheduled tribes, the MPRDC has prepared a combined resettlement plan and indigenous peoples plan for the Samnapur-Gadasari project road. It incorporates community development measures in consultation with villages benefiting from the project road. There is provision for the project implementation unit, consultants, and contractors to implement the measures. The MPRDC has the capacity to implement the combined plan and will prepare semi-annual social monitoring reports and submit them to ADB for disclosure.

Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation

During Project Design

Meaningful consultation with both road users and households who will potentially be adversely affected by road works is critical. The social development focal point and the gender expert of the project management unit, with the support of MPRDC and ADB consultants, led the consultation meetings, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, actively seeking the views of poor and vulnerable and/or CSOs, and scoping the capacity of CSOs that could assist in delivering the road safety campaigns.

During Project Implementation

Frequent communication and consultation with stakeholders will be continued during the project implementation.

Business Opportunities

Consulting Services

The MPRDC will engage an independent engineer to serve as construction supervision consultant for the works contracts, a road sector development consultant mainly for capacity building activities, a GESI consultant to implement the GESI action plan, a road safety consultant, and a road asset management system consultant. Procurement of consulting services will follow ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers (2017, as amended from time to time). Disbursement of the loan proceeds will follow ADB's Loan Disbursement Handbook (2022, as amended from time to time) and detailed arrangements agreed between the government and ADB.

Procurement

MPRDC will procure all eight civil works packages on hybrid annuity model. Procurement of works and consulting services will follow ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and Procurement Regulations for ADB Borrowers (2017, as amended from time to time). Disbursement of the loan proceeds will follow ADB's Loan Disbursement Handbook (2022, as amended from time to time) and detailed arrangements agreed between the government and ADB.

Contact

Responsible ADB Officer

Lu, Yang

Responsible ADB Department

Sectors Group

Responsible ADB Division

Transport Sector Office (SG-TRA)

Executing Agencies

Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation Ltd.

Timetable

Concept Clearance

25 Apr 2023

Fact Finding

17 Apr 2023 to 21 Apr 2023

MRM

28 Jun 2023

Approval

23 Oct 2023

Last Review Mission

-

Last PDS Update

23 Oct 2023

Funding

Loan 4361-IND