WORLD BANK APPROVES CREDIT OF US$ 36.6 MILLION FOR LIFELINE ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IN ARMENIA
ARKA
Aug 31, 2009
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, /ARKA/. The World Bank’s Board of Executive
Directors approved August 27 a credit of US$ 36.6 million equivalent
of additional financing for the Lifeline Road Improvement Project
(LRIP-AF) for Armenia, World Bank Armenia Resident Representative
Aristomene Varoudakis told reporters Monday.
He said this project is part of the overall World Bank Group Country
Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2009-2012 which was approved in
early June.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) Flexible Loan has 25 years of maturity with 10 years grace
period. Mr. Varoudakis said the interest rate is linked with LIBOR
(with 0.75% spread) that will be revised each six months.
Mr. Varoudakis said this project will assist the government of Armenia
in its on-going efforts to drastically improve accessibility of the
country’s main road network for the rural population, create employment
and will also help Armenia mitigate the impacts of the global economic
crisis on the country’s economy and the well-being of its population.
He said the additional financing will further scale-up activities
under the on-going original project to improve the condition of 140
km of roads.
"Over the years, insufficient investment in the rehabilitation and
maintenance of lifeline roads has made the overall road quality poor,
and left some roads difficult to use and others completely impassable.
For example, the inability to bring crops to market in time has
resulted in losses of 40 percent or more, and in some communities up
to 80 percent. The rehabilitation of the road network will therefore
help farmers and small businesses in rural areas bring their products
to market more easily and at a lower cost, reducing the external
shock of the crisis.
The project would also create 800 temporary jobs in rural areas
which have been hard hit by the crisis, and improve access to basic
social services.
The implementation of the civil works will commence in late September
and be completed by the end of the next construction season. The
LRIP-AF has two main components. First, it will support rehabilitation
of approximately 140 km of the lifeline roads, located in seven
regions. In addition, a technical assistance component will help the
Armenian government to modernize and increase the efficiency of how
they design their roads, and to support a road safety audit manual
as well as a "safe village" pilot that could be scaled up to improve
safety standards in other areas. Mr.
Varoudakis said regarding that World Bank has already funded
improvement of 116 km long roads, overall it will fund rehabilitation
of 260 km long rural roads. Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and
IDA in 1993, commitments to Armenia total approximately20US$1, 313,
6 million.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
