The African Development Fund (ADF)
The African Development Fund (ADF) yesterday signed agreement with the government of Tanzania for a 354.56bn/- concessional loan to support road sector projects.
Speaking to journalists yesterday AfDB resident representative, Tanzania Dr Tonia Kandiero on behalf of President of AfDB Dr Donald Kaberuka, said the project implementation was being jointly financed by the Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the government.
She said the intervention is consistent with the objectives of the medium term strategy of the Bank, emphasising investment in infrastructure projects that have high development impact.
“This agreement brings the Bank group’s total new commitments in Tanzania under ADF XIII (2011-2013) to approximately USD500m equivalent to 768.82bn/-. This is our largest programme in this funding cycle and presents 78 percent of the total pipeline of operations covering General Budget Support, agriculture, education and transport,” she noted. She stated that the Bank group’s intervention in the road sub-sector will now account for 45.9 percent of total commitments.
Dr Kandiero said the project will improve transport services between Dodoma and Babati and between Tunduru, Mangaka and Mtambaswala at the border with Mozambique.
However, she said the project will also strengthen the capacity of Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), and provide support for the restructuring of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Communications in Zanzibar financed under phase I. Additionally, the resident representative said the project signed has also incorporated soft components like monitoring of HIV/AIDS, implementation of the environment and social management plan and training of women contractors, which the Bank regards as important cross-cutting interventions.
For his part, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance Ramadhani Kijjah said the total cost of the project is 538.88bn/-, with JICA’s extending 157.4bn/- and the government 27bn/-.
“It is envisaged that the project will be launched in October this year and the work will be completed in March 2017.
Kijjah said the government appreciated the support for the sector, adding: “This will compliment government‘s efforts towards reaching the planned targets for social and economic development particularly the infrastructure.”
According to the PS, the objective of the project is to improve road transport infrastructure in order to reduce maintenance costs, vehicle operating costs and travel as well as to provide the communities in the zones of influence access to bigger markets, social services and contribute to reduction of poverty.
He said while the sector’s goal is to contribute to socio-economic development, integration of the regions of the country through an improved transport system will advance economic activities.
The components of the project include Civil Works, Consulting Services (audit, road safety, sensitization of HIV/AIDS, STI and gender) , Capacity Building (training for female contractors, short-term training of staff and procurement of support equipment) Compensation and Resettlement.
“The components provide for compensation and resettlement of project affected people (PAP) in accordance with the Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs).
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