Tunis — The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, on Monday in Tunis, approved a loan of 60 million Units of Account (UA*) equivalent to US$ 92 million, to finance the upgrading of a road network in central Tanzania.
The project aims at improving essential road transportation services between Dodoma, Singida, Babati and Arusha, in order to integrate the region with the rest of the country. It will also help integrate the key central transport corridor in Tanzania with the northern transport corridor traversing Kenya. The overall goal of the project is to support socio-economic development of the country through an improved, efficient and cost effective transportation system that integrates regional and national economic centers and in so doing, contributes to poverty reduction.
The main components of the road upgrading Project are:
- Civil works consisting of upgrading 223.5 km road to bitumen standard with a width of 9.5m (6.5m carriageway and 2x1.5m wide sealed shoulders) in 3 parts of the region - the Singida-Katesh, Katesh - Dareda and Dareda-Babati-Minjingu sections of the network measuring 65.1km, 73.8km and 84.6 km, respectively
- Consultancy services consisting of works supervision in each of three sections;
- Project audit consultancy services; and,
- Resettlement.
The project will also finance complementary activities which include STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness, Road Safety education campaigns, and Wildlife and Natural Resource Management. The majority of project beneficiaries are the people living in the Manyara and Singida regions numbering approximately 2.13 million in about 410,000 households or 6.3% of the country's mainland population in 2002. The districts within the project area are Singida, Hanang and Babati with an average household size of 5.1 persons compared to 4.9 for the mainland.
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About 1,500 people will be employed during the three-year construction period, out of which 10 percent are likely to be women. Indirectly, micro and small businesses will emerge, including vending and restaurants, a trade predominantly operated by women in Tanzania.
The AfDB's participation in Tanzania's transport sector began in 1971 when it financed an oil pipeline and storage project. It has since been involved in 16 road projects in the country, 13 of which have been completed successfully. Work on the other three is continuing.
The road upgrading project is estimated to cost UA 83.17 million. The ADF loan will cover 72% of the cost. The Tanzanian government will provide the remaining 28% or UA 23.17 million.
The Bank Group commenced operations in Tanzania in 1971. To date, the Bank has committed a total of UA 1.8 billion, about US$ 2.7 billion, in 104 operations in the country. The AfDB is among Tanzania's top four development partners.
* UA 1 = US$ 1.53263 = TZS 1961.52 as at 17 September 2007
