Imagine you’re the proprietor of a mid-sized logistics company in Kolkata, India. Your trucks pick up goods from port and transport them to Nepal via the border city of Raxaul in Bihar state.

The 726-km journey takes about 20 hours non-stop in dry weather, much longer during the monsoon. Or perhaps you’re a village headman in Raghopur Diara, a river island in Bihar on the mighty Ganges River that each year is partially submerged in monsoon season. The flood brings a new layer of topsoil that makes the land very fertile, but this advantage is offset when Raghopur Diara is cut off from the mainland for months by rising waters.

For millions of people in situations like these, better transport links would make a huge difference. Indeed, upgrading connections to sources of employment, markets and services like education and health is key for Bihar, India’s third most populous state. — blog.adb.org/blogs