The Assam State Roads Project is an Externally Aided Project (EAP) implemented for by the Public Works Roads Department (PWRD) through the Assam State Road Board (ASRB) for improvement of State Highways (SH) and Major District Roads (MDR) in the State. The total project cost is US$ 400 million. It includes US$ 320 loan assistance from the World Bank through the Govt. of India and US$ 80 million Government of Assam State share. The project development objective is to support the Government of Assam to develop an effective, sustainable, and safe state road network to facilitate integration of Assam’s economy with rest of India. The loan and project agreement was signed on November 5, 2012 and the loan became effective from January 25, 2013. The project closing date is March 31, 2018.

The project involves the following major components:

Component 1: Road Improvement: It includes civil works for a combination of road upgradation of about 300 km of state highways and pavement rehabilitation of about 800 Km of state highways and major district roads. It also includes pilot project on innovative bridge designs.

Component 2: Institutional Strengthening: It includes establish a Road Asset Management System for improving road maintenance in the State; institutional strengthening of the Assam State Road Board; computerisation of business processes of the department; institutional strengthening of the Assam Road Research and Training Institute as well as comprehensive skill enhancement of the PWRD staff, etc.

Component 3: Road Safety Management: Implementation of a multi-sectoral Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP); undertaking demonstration projects on road safety engineering measures; road safety assessments of core network; establishing road accident database, etc.