GURGAON, June 23: The World Bank has agreed to make available to Haryana a loan of Rs 981 crore for the upgradation of 872 kmts of state highways which pass through state. This has been disclosed by the PWD minister of Haryana Dharambir Yadav while talking to The Financial Express.

Yadav further said that if the negotiations going on with the World Bank team got through they would also spare more funds to upgrade state highways and other districts roads.

Given by the urgency of providing world class infrastructure facilities, road sector being the first priority, necessary to push industrial growth to achieve a faster face, the upgradation of the highways has been taken up in right earnest, said Yadav.

In two phases the improvement of the existing road facilities has been chalked out. Whereas the upgradation of 260 kmts with an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore underline the first phase, later on, premix carpet of 362 kmts of state highways single lane with the cost of Rs 6.62 crore, premix carpet of 1,587 kmts of MDRs with the cost of 32 crore, Bitunous Macadam of 1,065 kmts of state ways with a cost of Rs 172 crore and premix carpet of about 8,000 kmts of ODRs with the cost of Rs 160 crore would be taken up with the total investment of Rs 370.62 crore, disclosed Yadav.

Already the four lanes development of NH 8 from Gurgaon to Sahajahan Pur, a boarder town of Rajasthan, has been under taken with vigour promising to be completed by the end of the year, hopefully said Yadav, adding further the four lanes conversion from two lanes of National Highways No. 1 from Delhi to Ambala was expected to be realised in the near future.

Giving a credit to Bansi Lal for having realised the ambitious target by linking all 6,795 village of the state with metal roads during his first stint as chief minister in 1968, Yadav said that the state was all set to attain upgradation of all its road network under his stewardship.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.