The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved, on December 17 in Abidjan, a loan of 104 million euros to Tunisia to implement the second phase of the Road Infrastructure Modernization Program (PMIR II).
The program aims to promote an efficient and sustainable transport system, capable of developing intra- and inter-regional trade, says the AfDB.
It aims to ensure greater accessibility to priority regions and the country’s main development poles in order to support growth and create favorable conditions for youth employment.
By 2026, this new operation will help better integrate territories by improving access to the road network for 700,000 users,” said Mohamed El Azizi, the African Development Bank managing director for North Africa.
It will reduce, on average, the travel time on the RN2 by more than half. Nearly 1800 new jobs will be created. This is a new milestone in a successful cooperation that, over the past decade, has helped to modernize more than 70% of the Tunisian classified road network, emphasizes the AfDB statement.
The program aims to rehabilitate and strengthen a linear of over 230 kilometers of classified roads in the governorates of Gafsa, Kairouan, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid and Siliana.
It will also contribute to the periodic maintenance of a linear of 1,000 kilometers, part of which will be supported by 80 microenterprises created for this purpose. It will also support the development, in 2 x 2 lanes, of the RN2 linking Enfidha to Kairouan, specifies the AfDB.
The project is in line with the strategic priorities of the African Development Bank, the “High 5″. It is in line with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2013-2022, whose objective is to establish the conditions for sustainable and inclusive growth on the continent”, it added.
The Group’s active portfolio in Tunisia amounted to 1.8 billion euros, as of November 30, 2021, the AfDB recalls.
It covers the health, social development, water, agriculture, energy, transport, industry, digital and financial sectors.
