Announcement of Six Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollar Road Credit to Mauritania on January 5, 1965

• • INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON 25, D. C. TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE3-6360 IDA Press Release No. 64/25 For AoMc: Newspapers . Subject: $6. 7 million Road Credit January 5, 1965 to Mauritania The International Development Association (IDA), an affiliate of the idbrld Bank, has extended a credit equivalent to $6.7 million to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for a road project. The credit will help to finance the design and construction of a 125-mile road between Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, and Rosso, on the border of Senegal, and a study of road mainten- • ance requi-rements. The road will reduce vehicle operating costs, save maintenance costs, and substantially reduce the distance o,rer which Mauritania I s exports and imports must be shipped. I1auritania is twice the size of France, extending over 800pules north and northeastwards into the Sahara from the Senegal .River which forms the southern boundary. Three-quarters of the population of about one million are nomads, and most of the remainder are engaged in agriculture mainly in the Senegal River valley. Harsh physical conditions and meager natural resources have hampered economic development in the past, but since 1960 the economy has been broadened and strengthened by the development of high-grade iron ore de- posits at Fort Gouraud by the Societe Anonyme des t1ines de Fer de Mauritanie (HIFERNA) for which the World Bank made a loan of $66 million in 1960 • •  • growth of the economy. - 2 - The development of road transport is of fundamental importance to the With the exception of the railroad in the north between • Fort Gouraud and Port Etienne, which is used primarily for the movement of iron ore, the only means of surface transport is a rudimentary road network comprising about 4,375 miles of unimproved earth roads and tracks. The south- ern part of the country, extending roughly from the latitude of Nouakchott to the Senegal River, is the most denseiy settled and agriculturally promising part of the country. At present this region is supplied largely through the port of Dakar in Senegal. After a 163-mile train haul from Dakar, goods are transported another 75 miles by road to Rosso on the border before being dis- tributed either to the Senegal Valley or to Nouakchott. These transshipments • are costly and time-consuming. A new wharf is being built at Nouakchott which will give the capital dir- ect access to the sea. The road now being financed will provide a permanent artery between the wharf, Nouakchott, and Rosso in the Senegal Valley. The road and the wharf are expected to bring about a gradual shift in the traffic pattern of Mauritania's import and export trade; this will achieve a substan- tial reduction in the distance over which goods must be shipped. Indirect benefits should also accrue to Mauritania as the development of traffic through Nouakchott will stimulate commercial activities, create new employment oppor- tunities and provide additional budget revenues through taxes and import duties. The Nouakchott-Rosso road will be an all-weather, two-lane road. The first 62.5-mile section,. starting at Nouakchott, will have an improved soil sub-base and a course of sea shells which are found in deposits near the shore line. On the second half of the road, to Rosso, the sea shell course will have • • - 3. - in addition a single bittllllinous ~urface because on this section the sea shell pits are located too far away for the economic use of this material for m.ain- tenanceo The road will be built sufficiently high to prevent :i.Iiterruption of traffic by periodic flooding of the Senegal River. The Mauritanian Government will retain consultants to draw up the f:inal design and to supervise construction of the road, as well as to undertake a study of maintenance requirements for the entire road network. A contract for construction of the road will be awarded on the basis of international com- petitive biddi.~g~ The project is scheduled for completion in 1969 at a total estimated cost of $10 milliono The IDA credit will provlde $6t', 7 million of the total; the Government is arranging to obtain most of the remaining funds from other ext,ernal sources o • The IDA credit is for a term of 50 years. Repayment of principal will begin June 1, 1975 after a 10-year period of grace. Thereafter 1% of the princi- pal will be repayable annually for 10 years and 3% will be repayable annually for the final JO yea.rs., The credit is free of i.L--iterest, but a service charge of 3/4 of 1% per arumm on the amount withdrawn and outstanding wlll be made to meet IDA's administrative costs • •