ISLAMABAD: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is considering co-financing the Punjab government’s highway development project with a loan of $321 million to dualise 535 kilometres of provincial highways in southern Punjab with road safety and climate resilient features.

Being the lead co-financer, the Asian Development Bank will provide financing worth $407 million for the Punjab government highway project, which is estimated to cost $817 million.

The proposed project will help improve east-west connectivity in southern Punjab with road safety, climate resilient and sustainable road maintenance features. It has been estimated that the dualisation of 535kilometres of provincial highways would reduce traffic fatalities on the project roads by 30 per cent.

The bank will give $321m to dualise 535km highways in south Punjab

The ADB says in its project document that there is a significant geographical disparity in the development of Punjab’s economy, with the southern and western districts of the province, being more rural and agricultural, lagging substantially behind the relatively more prosperous northern and eastern districts which are more urban and industrial.

The inadequacy of east-west road connectivity becomes most apparent in southern Punjab given the north -south orientation of the three high-capacity national road transport corridors (M4, M3, and N5) while there are no direct east-west corridors linking the market towns of southern Punjab and the neighbouring districts in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa across the Indus.

The provincial government, in its Punjab Spatial Strategy and the Punjab Growth Strategy 2023, assessed and identified the potential of Punjab’s growth corridors and nodes with competitive economic position, and proposes to focus attention on the development needs of backward areas, such as southern Punjab which is lagging behind in social and economic development due to the past pattern and distribution of public sector spending.

According to the ADB, the project will also help the government in establishing a dedicated entity with streamlined funding to manage all provincial highways in Punjab; conduct road safety assessment for the provincial highway network of Punjab and pilot the safe system approach with a framework and action plan; and improve climate resilience of the road network and communication and works department’s disaster-response capability.

On an average, 25 accidents involving 700 to 800 people took place daily in Punjab from 2013 to 2017. Around 230,000 road traffic accidents were reported in Lahore during this period, or an average of 126 accidents a day. Nationwide, deaths resulting from traffic accidents were 2.4 per cent of total reported deaths in 2018. One out of five of these deaths is a pedestrian.

More than 50 per cent of provincial road network are in fair to poor condition, and one-third is in very poor condition. Punjab has the biggest share of road assets in the country.

The province’s farm-to-market road length is 51 per cent of the total roadway in Punjab while provincial highways comprise 14 per cent.

This rural road network is important for connecting producers and traders aside from broader mobility needs of the population.

The ADB says that improvement of the provincial highway network will provide opportunities for the poorer segment of the population to access social services, including health and education.

An increased movement of people, goods, and services will support creation of jobs and livelihoods which the poor and unemployed can benefit from.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2021