Announcement of Seven Million Dollars Loan for Port of Tunis on June 5, 1964

V ;~ INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR _ • RECONSTRUCTION AND DFVELOPMENT ,, 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank ,Press Release . No. 64/21 \"'-', June ·5, .1964 - ·~subject: $7 rnilliou loan for port of Tu.."'lis The World Bank today made a loan equivalent to $'7 mill:kn to Tunisia to assist;;i.n creating a modern port for Tunis.· The project will relieve serious congesti9n and provide additional capacity at the port h~"ldling over half the country• s . foreign trade and serving an area containing mbrec tr.an half of =Tunisia's population of four,, million,. including Tunis, the capital and main com- mercial center. The ·Chase .Mcnhattan Bank, Hew York, Commerzbank A.G., Dusseldorf, .Cl:emical . (_) Bank New. York Trust Compan:y- ·and Bank of .America National Trust and Sa·,ings As- • sociation, San Francisco are participating ·in the lo~µ, without the World Bank's guarantee, for (°~". i total of $4.20.,000 representing the first maturity and par_t of the' firth maturity which fall due between August 1, 1967 and .August 1, 1969. The volume of traffic at Tunis is already beyond the capacity of the por't, to handle efficiently. It has increased by a: third since 1953, reaching nearly 2.4 million tons a year, and is expected to undergo a similar increase~ the next decade. The port complex at Tunis consists of" the old port of 'Tunis at the land- wand end of a 6-mile canal across the shallow~'1.ake of Tunis, the new .port ot L-a. ~ Goulette at the seaward end, and facilities at Rades on the south side of the • (! harbor for bulk handling of iron ore, phosphates and petrole~. "The.Tunis port, ., which handles most of the traffic, is crow_ded, foundatio~ condit~pns are poor, .md there is no roan fo:- expansion; both the ,_basin·· and access canal require fre- quent dredging. The width and depth of the canal restrict ,shipping movement to single line t:-affic and ::11 sr:J limit the size of ships using the port. Although La Goulette has five deep-water berths, they are not equipped {)  ('\ - 2 - I\ . '<:,\ \I !,i and so are not being used to fullest advantage} fon(~.itions at La. Goulet·te, ~1ow- ever, ofavor· the deV"elopment of a large mod_ern port, and the a·overnment ,~ntends ,' (/ to transfe.r port opere.tions pr·Jgressively to it from the old port. 'Ilie project being financed by todayr s loan consists of the const::'Uction of two new, fully equip~µ berths at La Goulette cilld the equipping of the five ex-. :isting berths with transit sheds, warehouses, a passen6~r terminal and offic~ I'~.' buildings. It also includes the relocation of the access road to the port and of the breaki,ra·~er at the harbor: entrance, and the e~tension of the road and rail 1 network wlthin the port tree. With its new berths and installations, La Goulette will be able to handle a. totaT of about one million tons annually .s made up of 700c,OfJO _tons of .general cargo and 300,000 tons of cargo of a bulk nature, such- as oil and -w-jn(:;. ·-·-Pa--s~en- .,. ~\ ... ~--- -·-· • ger lj_ners and cruise ships will a.:I:so be diverted to La Goulette, where the neiv· terminal will replace old 1 inadequate facilities at ,TW1is. The port is now administered by the Regie de·s Ports de Cornll!erc.e, a Depart .. ment of the Ministry of Public Works responsible for all Tunisian ports. The Government wi.ll replace the Regie by a new autonomous port authority, the "Offlce des Ports Nationaux Ttt.'ti.siens" o The total cost of the T;>roject is estimated at the equivalent of $11.4 rrdl- lion., The Bank loan o~ $7 million will cover the foreign exchange requirements .. The Governlilent of Tu..nisia will apply the proceeds to the cost of the project ··rhich, on comple~ion, will be t:?:'a.nsferred to the new OffiC'e; the latter will as- stune a liability to the Gove~"?llllent corresponding to the amour..t of the Bank loan .. The loan is for a term of 25 years and bears interest at the rate of ~-1/2% per &"'lnU.'11 including the 1% commission which is allocated to the Bank's Special Reserve. Amortization will begin in August 1967. • r  • • f: .-~ \) r;.• iJ ;, Sidi Bo~:.-!5rild PORT OF LA GOULETT~ PROJECT CANAL a ROAD MAP oF=rUNIS-LA GOULETTE AREA EXISTING RAILWAYS;- ............... N.G. Narrow Guoge B.G. Brood Guoge EXISTING ROADS FUTURE ROAD PROPOSED ROAD -c,PROPOSED PROJECT to B izerte L a c de Tu n is ~ . . . ___ . . . . . _ , -. . . . ~_ s-10 1 ~.Orooc~C,-.. ..... - - ..... ..._ r-, I, ~u..,..,8/ - ..... .._ ....._-. ..._ ....._ !\. U',, \ . ·"'..-• ,o;--;.,:,?:::-:::-cc~ '\ .J-...1 6'o~ N \- ' t I ) ',-5 , -m v SEBKRET Goulfe ,de. Tunis ES SEDJOUMI 2 3 4 5 6 0 2 3 4