India and Asian Development Bank on Wednesday (16 June) signed a $484 million loan pact to improve transport connectivity and facilitate industrial development in the Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) in Tamil Nadu.

CKIC is part of India’s East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), which stretches from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu and connects India to the production networks of South, Southeast, and East Asia.

ADB is the lead partner of the government in developing ECEC, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, signed agreement for the Tamil Nadu Industrial Connectivity Project on behalf of the Centre while Takeo Konishi, Country Director for ADB in India, signed for ADB.

“The project is key to providing seamless road connectivity across industrial clusters, transport gateways and consumption centers, and help reduce logistics and production costs for CKIC’s targeted industries to boost their competitiveness,” Mishra said.

"The project is part of the priority infrastructure projects identified for corridor development under the ADB-supported CKIC comprehensive development plan,” said Konishi.

“The overall objective is to spur industrial transformation through provisioning of essential transport, energy and urban infrastructure for holistic development of industrial growth centres," Konishi added.

The project will upgrade about 590 km of state highways in the CKIC influence areas that cover 23 of the 32 districts between Chennai and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

Enhanced connectivity of industrial hubs with hinterland and ports will particularly help increase the participation of Indian manufacturing in global production networks and global value chains, thereby creating jobs along the corridor, the ministry said.

In line with Strategy 2030, ADB’s long-term corporate strategy, the project emphasises sustainability, climate change resilience, and road safety elements, it said.

Seven-year contracts are provided for long-term maintenance of road projects. Climate change adaptation measures will be incorporated in highway upgrades, including improved drainage, raised road embankments in critical sections, and resizing of bridges and culverts, the ministry added.

The project will also strengthen road safety improvement programs through advanced technologies for road monitoring and enforcement. In addition, the project will help improve the planning capacity of Tamil Nadu’s Highways and Minor Ports Department.