Nigeria: U.S. $53 Million ADF Loan to Improve Rural Transport Infrastructure

18 July 2007
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Tunis — The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group on Wednesday in Tunis approved a loan of UA 35.27 million, equivalent to US$ 53.45 million, to help finance a Rural Access and Mobility Project in Nigeria's Cross River State.

The objective of the project is to improve access to transport services for the rural population in order to develop an adequate, affordable, safe, environmentally sound and efficient transport system within the context of a progressive and competitive market economy.

The project consists of three components:

* Rehabilitation of feeder roads (474 km); * Consultancy Services on conceptual design studies and works supervision; institutional strengthening and baseline studies; * Technical assistance, training, road reclassification study; bridge inventory study; baseline study for project monitoring indicators and project audit;

Project management which will involve providing support through the supply of office equipment and vehicles.

The target communities in the project area are not easily accessible.

The unpaved feeder roads which are prone to erosion have been given priority for rehabilitation under the project. The direct beneficiaries of Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) in the State would be about 180,000 households living at a distance of less than 10 km of the rehabilitated roads, which represent 1.3 million rural dwellers. The prioritized project roads are situated in 15 of the 18 Local Government Areas. The indirect beneficiaries will be the 2.8 million inhabitants of the State.

The project cost is estimated at UA 39.40 million, equivalent to US$ 59.7 million (NGN 7.54 billion). The ADF grant will cover 89.5 % of the costs. The Federal Government will provide UA 0.85 million or 2.2 % of the overall cost while the Cross River State government will contribute UA 3.28 million or 8.3% of the total cost.

The AfDB Group operations in Nigeria began in 1971. To date, its cumulative commitment in the country stands at US$ 2.85 billion in 70 operations.

* 1 UC =1, 51557 = 193.395 NGN on 18/07/2007

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