Upgrades to the road network in Minas Gerais, Brazil, will receive a $137m loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The money will be used to rehabilitate, upgrade and maintain the existing roads, over 24% of which are in poor state, as well as carry out several measures to enhance road safety, according to khl.com.

The measures include paving access roads to connect less developed municipalities to the federal and state highway systems, increasing the capacity and safety of principal transport corridors, and optimising urban mobility in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area.

Once completed, the upgrade work is expected to increase the number of municipalities with paved access roads from 86.2% to 93%.

The state’s road network plays a strategic role in the nation’s overall productive infrastructure as it integrates Brazil’s southern and south-eastern regions with its northern and centre-north regions.