Announcement of 3.5 Million Dollars IDA Credit for Technical Assistance to Mauritania on April 4, 1977

.VVorld Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. • Telephone: (202) 393-6360 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 77/42 Ap r i l 4 , l 9 77 $3.5 MILLION IDA CREDIT FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO MAURITANIA The International Development Association (IOA), an affiliate of the World Bank Group, wi 11 provide a $3.5 million to help finance a technical assistance project aimed at strengthening the organizational structure of a public enterprise in Mauritania. The project, with a total cost of $4.4 million, will provide a three-year pro- gram of technical assistance designed to build the Societe Nationale pour le Developpement Rural (SONADER) into a strong agency capable of preparing and executing well-conceived projects in the rural sector. The $3.5 million credit, on standard IDA terms, will finance 80 percent of total project costs, including 100 percent of the foreign exchange costs and about $0.6 million of the local costs. The IDA credits are repayable in a term of 50 years, • including a 10-year period of grace, with no interests but an annual service charge of 0.75 percent to cover administrative costs. The project consists of: i) Seven expatriate experts and seven Mauritanian professionals to strengthen SONADER's organizational structures, to identify and prepare rural projects, and to take over the execution and management of a few ongoing irrigation projects; ii) short term consultant services to carry out studies on the Gorgol irrigation project and on special topics to be determined; and, iii) acquisition of equipment, vehicles and related operating costs (including fuel). The executing agency of the project will be Societe Nationale pour le Developpement Rural (SONADER), B.P. 321, Nouakchott,Mauritanie, under the auspices of the Ministry of Water Resources. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in US dollar equivalents • •