The program builds on the first Rural Connectivity Investment Program in 2012, financed by ADB through an $800 million MFF, which added about 9,000 km of all-weather rural roads in the same states.

The investment program's first tranche, amounting to $250 million, expected in December 2017, will construct an initial 6,254 km of all-weather rural roads. It will also pave the way for the training of about 2,000 project engineers on road safety and road maintenance. The program's second tranche, for the same amount, is expected to come in the third quarter of 2019.

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