Announcement of Haiti to Rehabilitate Northern Highway and Restore Bridges with Fourteen Million US Dollars IDA Credit on April 5, 1982

\' . FOR IMMEDIATE . . RELEAS6 •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 82/47 ~ontact: Ciro Gamarra Apr i 1 5 , 1982 (202) 477-8034 HAITI TO REHABILITATE NORTHERN HIGHWAY AND RESTORE BRIDGES WITH $14 MILLION IDA CREDIT Haiti will rehabilitate about 100 kilometers of highway between Cap Haitien and Gonaives and carry out maintenance of bridges and drainage structures with the help of an SDR 12.2 million ($14 million) credit from the International Development Associa- tion (IDA), the World Bank's affiliate for concessionary lending. The $19.2 million project will also allow the National Permanent Road Maintenance Department to upgrade its equipment fleet by replacing outdated equipment and adding some needed additional units. This will enable the department to continue routine maintenance work on the country's network of roads as outlined in the 1982·-86 Five-Year Maintenance Program. • Funds from the IOA credit, the sixth for road rehabilitation in Haiti, will help reconstruct and strengthen a section of a highway built under the Third and Fourth Highway Projects. Increased traffic, especially a high proportion of heavily loaded trucks,has caused deterio~ation earlier than anticipated. The project will also help in the implementation of a program for the control of weights and dimensions of vehicles, including the purchase and operation of equipmert and the enforcement of regulatio~s goven,ing such controls. 1ile project will rehabilitate 57 bridges and drainage structures out of 350 examined in the Fifth Transport Project. Six new bridges and a 2 kilometer bypass at Gimbale will be built and the remainder will undergo repairs. ' The project will also complete two studies, the first to determine the possibility of increased labor-intensive road maintenance, because of the availability of low-cost labor in the country, and the second to examine the domestic construction industry with emphasis on the basic training needs of the industry's manAgers, skilled workers, and technicians. The IDA credit is for 50 years, including 10 years of grace; it carries no interest but bears a small annual service charge (0.5% on the undisbursed balances of the credit, and 0.75% on the disbursed balances). NOTE: IDA credits are denominated in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), which are valued on the basis of a "basket" of currencies. The U.S. dollar equivalent of the • SOR amount of the IDA credit reflects the exchange rates existing at the time of negotiation of the credit .  M N0.1121 (5-76) T E CHN I CA L DAT A PROJECT: Sixth Highway ~ COUNTRY: Haiti TOTAL COST: $1 9. 2 mil 1 i Oh I I DA F INANC I.NG.:. SDR 1.2.2 mi 11 ion ($14 mi 11 ion), on standard terms; plus an annual service charge of Os5% on the undisbursed balances of the credit, and 0.75% on the disbursed balances. OTHER FINANCING: Government of Haiti, $5.2 million IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Secretairerie d 1 Etat des Travaux Publics, Transports et Communications Port-au-Prince Haiti PROJECT DESCRIPTION: It includes: (a) acquisition of equipm«~nt for renewal and expansion of the National Permanent Roc~d Maintenance Department's (SEPRRN) existing fl~~t to carry out routine road maintenance; (b) implementation of a program of control of weights and dimensions of vehicles, including procurement and operation ,of weighing equipment and ·enforcement of laws • governing such control; (c) construction or rehabilitation of 57 bridges and drainage structures; (d) rehabilitation and strengthening of about 100 km of th~· Northern Road; and (e) technical assistance for studies of maintenance technology and of the domestic construction industry, and for auditing the project accounts kept by TPTC and SEPRRN. PROCU.REMENT: Contracts with estimated costs over $50,000 will be awarded through international competitive bidding (ICB). Contracts with an P~timated cost below $50,000 and within an overall ceiling of $1,000,000 will be advertised locally in accordance with TPTC regulations acceptable to IDA. Civil works for construction of roads, bridges and other road drainage structures will be awarded through ICB after prequal ification of firms in accordance with Bank/lDA procurement guidelines. Bridge and structure works will be contracted in lots of between $500,000 and $1,000,000 each and the road rehabilitation component (about $6.6 mill ion) will be let as one contract. CONSULTANTS: Consultant services will be required for detailed engineering and supervision of civil works.,and for technical assistance. ECONOMIC RATE OF RETURN: ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 20% 1985 - 0 - • ,m, w··rr:::wr tl11 us tw.z-"'. ,. tc r