Announcement of Eight Hundred Fifty Thousand US Dollars Loan to Tunisia on June 4, 1969

\\ FOR IMMEDIATE 'RELEAS\e: \JELOPIVlENT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433;," TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 69/37 June 4, 1969 Subject: $850,.000 loan to Tunisia The World Bank has approved a loan equivalent to $850,000 to Tunisia for de- tailed engineering of high priority roads and for the preparation of a highway maintenance program. The loan. will be for a period of ten years, including a 2,•year grace period, with interest at 6-1/2%. Tunisia has an extensive road network of more than 9,300 miles which radi- ates from Tunis, the capital, connecting with the various provinces, as well as Algeria to the west and Libya to the south. Many roads are becoming inadequate for the rapidly growing traffic, especially in the northeast where agriculture • is expanding and the tourist industry is booming. The roads involved in the engineering project are in this area and comprise heavily traveled sections of trunk routes originating in Tunis. The project being assisted by the loan consists of two parts. The first part consists of the detailed engineering, including economic analysis and preparation of tender documents and cost estimates, of 5 primary road sec- tiJns with a c0tnbined length of some 160 miles, 2 secondary road sections with .a .total length of about 47 miles, and 16 bridges and 41 culverts. The improvements will consist of cor·recting ~urves, profiles and cross sections, vroviding adequate drainage, improving visibility, realigning winding or periodically flooded sect.ions, and rehabilitating and upgrading the pavement. The bridges and culverts, which are on these and other roads, will replace structures that have already collapsed or have insufficient load capacity • •• /more  Bank P.R. Release No. 69/37 - Tunisia • Road Engineering - 2 -· The second part consists of tbe· preparation of a highway maintenance and betterment program. Consultants will define the current maintenance require- ments, including equipment, assign priorities to road sections in need of up- grading, a~d identify ways to strengthen the maintenance organization, in- cluding improving cost accounting. The total cost of the project is estimated at the equivalent of $1.32 mil- lion. The Bank loan will cover the foreign exchange costs and local currency financing will be provided by the Government of Tunisia. The Directorate of Public Works, which is responsible for the highway system, has negotiated con- tracts for the work to be undertaken. The Bank Group has already lent $32.5 million to Tunisia for railways and ports. Also, the World Bank was Executing Agency for a comprehensive survey of Tunisia's transportation sector which was carr.ied out in 1967-68 by 1TALCONSULT with financial assistance from the United Nations D~velopment Pro- gramme. The roads involved in the engineering project were included in the road construction and improvement program reconunended by ITALCONSULT. ) - 0 - •