Rose Mestika
18 March 2008
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia is in a position to receive a loan to the amount of 100 million USD from the World Bank for its infrastructural developments projects in major cities of the country, the Ministry of Works and Urban Development said on Monday.
The ministry said the World Bank was now appraising the proposals by the Ethiopian government and a formal agreement for the provision of the loans for what is to be called Urban Local Government Development Project will be signed in a few weeks time.
The loan will be utilized for road construction, land development, water, and waste drainage and for other similar activities in 19 cities of six regions, namely, Dire Dawa, Oromia, Amhara, Harari, Southern Nations and Nationalities and Tigray regional States including the Capital Addis Ababa.
According to Dr. Abraham right now they are in appraisal, the next step will be negotiation and after some weeks the agreement will be signed legally.
The Ethiopian government and World Bank are on the way to sign the Urban Local Government Development Project.
Speaking at a press conference held at the ministry of works and Urban Development yesterday, Dr. Abraham Tekeste, Head, Policy Research and Planning Bureau, explained that certain procedures should have been followed as required by the World Bank, of which, he said the first was to disclose the process to the public.
Another requirement in the procedure was for the government to prepare proposals of projects and make them public, too, Dr Abraham elaborated.
He said five proposals have been prepared, among which are the Environmental and Social Management Framework and the Resettlement Policy Framework "It will be helpful to minimize the negative consequences regarding environmental and social aspects that occur on the process," he observed..
He also added the main aim of these projects was reducing the risk from harmful effects of the environment or else preparing for the compensation.
This calls for every city to take that in to consideration and do all the necessary to prepare for the implementation before the loan was released.
The loan will be effective as of September 2008, it was learnt.
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