Shimla, Feb 26 (IANS) The World Bank has agreed to finance the widening of six narrow, busy mountain highways in Himachal Pradesh.
Official sources said here Monday that the project would cost Rs. 11.5 billion. While the World Bank give an aid of Rs. 9 billion, the state government will raise the rest of the corpus.
A World Bank team returned last week after carrying out technical assessment of the project in the north Indian hill state.
The state government has already invited tenders for widening three roads in the first phase. They are: Theog-Rohru, Mehatpur-Mubarakpur and Una-Ner Chowk highways.
The Theog-Rohru highway in Shimla district will involve the construction of a tunnel at the Kharapather resort for which Geo Consult, an engineering firm from Austria, is preparing a project report, sources said.
Work for the first phase is expected to start by June this year.
The next phase will involve three other roads: Kumarhatti-Nahan, Ghumarwin-Sarkaghat and Hamirpur-Palampur highways.
The widening of all the six roads is scheduled to be carried out in the next five years.
The state-run Himachal Pradesh Road and Other Infrastructure Development Corporation will be the nodal agency to carry out the project according to international standards laid out by the World Bank, officials said.
© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service
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