World Bank will conduct safety investigations across 3,000km of highways in eight states in India and plans to issue loans for retrofitting in a bid to increase road safety.

The move has been attributed to the increasing number of road-related accident deaths in India, which recorded the highest in the world at 100,000.

Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) of the World Bank will contract the $8m project to the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), which will study highways in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Assam.

The programme includes videographing state and national highways and examining road safety aspects and various road engineering features, and recommending retro-fitting initiatives for the highways.

Once the survey is completed, GRSF would provide funds to the state governments to carry out the findings of the iRAP investigation, while the World Bank would be administering the grant.

Additional road safety measures like water harvesting, greening and noise reducers will also be planned for the most accident-prone highways, according to The Economic Times.

The project will cover highways in eight states under a pilot project called Greener Safer Pilot, which also includes 55km of the Delhi-Panipat national highway.