Tanzania: ADF Approves $80 Million for Kenya-Tanzania Road Link

13 December 2006
African Development Bank (Abidjan)

Efforts to provide a reliable road link between neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania got a boost from the African Development Bank Group with the approval of a loan and a grant amounting to 53.28 million Units of Account (UA*), equivalent to US$ 80.33 million to rehabilitate the road link.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved on Wednesday in Tunis, a loan of UA 49.778 million (US$75. 05 million) and the grant of UA 3.501 million (US$ 5.28 million) to finance the Arusha-Namanga-Athi River Road Development Project.

The main objective of the project is to improve the essential road transport infrastructure between Kenya and Tanzania, particularly between Arusha and Nairobi, Arusha and Mombasa and Malindi and Dar es Salaam. The overall goal is to support regional integration, cross border trade, tourism, socio - economic development of the area and contribute to the reduction of poverty.

Project Outputs include: * Civil Works, in 2 lots, for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the 240 km Arusha -Namanga - Athi River road to a 7-m wide carriageway with a surfacing of asphalt concrete and single seal surface dressing and 2-m wide sealed shoulders on each side; * Consultancy services for the supervision of the works (2 consultancies, one firm for each lot of works); * Project Audit consultancy services for the entire project.

* Consultancy services (in 2 packages) for feasibility study and detailed engineering design for 560 kms of the Arusha-Holili/Taveta-Voi road and the Tanga - Horohoro/LungaLunga-Malindi; * Consulting services in the form of technical assistance for capacity building of the East African Community Secretariat using two individual consultants.

* Consultancy services to evaluate the poor contracting capacity for civil works in East Africa and recommend measures to improve contracting capacity to participate in major projects.

* Other miscellaneous costs will be incurred to compensate people affected by the project.

The principal beneficiaries of the project will be the tourism industry in both countries, cross border trading, regional integration (social and economic aspects) and the population of the project area. The project impact will include increased cross border traffic, increased cross border tourism, increased social-economic activities at the principal towns of Arusha, Namanga and Nairobi, and both Tanzania's and Kenya's coast line. Arusha, which is the capital of the East African Community, will have an excellent link with Nairobi. These impacts are measurable using traffic counts and economic activity surveys, among others.

The estimated cost of the project is UA 98.815 million. It will be financed by the ADF loan and grant, a loan of 39.712 million UA from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and contributions from the governments of Kenya and Tanzania

* 1 UA = 1.50773 US$ = 106.592 KES = 1905.02 TZS as at 13/12/2006

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