Japan - Fourth Expressway Project : Loan 0374 - Press Release - Conformed

IWORLD BANK 1818 H STREET, N.W.. WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 64/12 Subject: $50 million loan in Japan April 22, 1964 The World Bank today made its fourth loan, equivalent to $50 million, to assist in financing a toll express highway which will run 333 miles from Tokyo to Kobe. The Bank has already lent $155 million for the building of 214 miles of the expressway; today's loan will be used for the 49-mile section between Toyokawa and Komaki. The Tokyo-Kobe Expressway is one of the most important highways being built in Japan, It traverses the Tokaido region, the most highly industrialized and densely populated area in the country, and will link five of Japan's six largest cities. The expressway will relieve the acute shortage of transporta- tion capacity in this area, providing for the safe, rapid movement of freight and passenger traffic at reduced costs. The loan was made to the Nihon Doro Kodan (Japan Highway Public Corpora- tion), a government corporation responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of many of Japan's toll facilities which include highways, tunnels, bridges and ferries. During the next five years Poro Kodan is in- vesting the equivalent of about $1,800 million mainly in new highways, and highest priority has been given to the Tokyo-Kobe Expressway. A 45-mile sec- tion linking the Osaka metropolitan area with that of Kyoto has been open to traffic since July 1963, and another 43-mile section is opening this month; the expressway is scheduled to be open along its entire route early in 1969. -2- The section for which today's loan was made centers around the Nagoya area; it will run 49 miles from the Toyokawa interchange north of Toyohashi city to the Komaki interchange north of Ngoya. It will be a four-lane divided highway and the works to be built include five interchanges and one service area. The total cost of the Toyokawa-Komaki section of the expressway, in- cluding construction, land acquisition, engineering and interest during the construction period, is estimated at the equivalent of $202 million. The Bank loan will cover about a third of the estimated cost of land acquisi- tion and construction. Construction work is to be executed by contractors on a unit price basis under the supervision of Doro Kodan. The loan is for a term of 25 years and bears interest of 5-1/21 per annum, including the 1% commission which is allocated to the Bank's Special Reserve. Amortization will begin in May 1969. The loan is gueranteel by the Government of Japan. MAP 1 Wakkonai' Abashiri Sapporo M OK K A|D JAPAN NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEM e EXISTING PRIMARY Aomori NATIONAL HIGHWAYS FIRST , SECOND AND THI-RD EXPRESSWAY PROJECTS PROPOSED FOURTH Akita EXPRESSWAY PROJEGT EXPRESSWAY CONSTRUCTION WITHOUT BANK FINANCING 0 50 100 150 200 KILOMETERS 0 50 |00 I50 200 MILES 0 Niigata 5 Toyama A C TOIC OCEA Chibo 00 - Matsue Yöohora Okayama k Hrashimc 30 Shimonoseký .... 4 -Wakayoma0 jiüy okushima Kochi ma-SH IKOK P A CI F / C O C EAN KYUSHU M iiyazaki MARCH 1964 IBRD-1224 RI