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World Bank Approves $45 Million For Lifeline Road Network Improvemen

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  • World Bank Approves $45 Million For Lifeline Road Network Improvemen

    WORLD BANK APPROVES $45 MILLION FOR LIFELINE ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENT PROJECT FOR ARMENIA

    YEREVAN, February 1, /ARKA/. The World Bank Board of Executive
    Directors approved January 31 a $45 million loan for the Lifeline
    Road Network Improvement Project (LRNIP) for Armenia to assist the
    government of Armenia in its on-going efforts to further improve
    accessibility through the rehabilitation of 170 km of the lifeline
    road network of the country, and create employment mostly for rural
    population, the World Bank said in a press release. It will also help
    Armenia to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Transport and
    Communication (MoTC) to manage the lifeline road network.

    "Despite visible improvement since 2009, about 50 percent of lifeline
    roads in Armenia remain in poor condition and there is still an
    important investment backlog for rehabilitation and maintenance. The
    degraded part of the Lifeline Road Network (LRN) causes high transport
    costs and prolonged journey times for road users, thus restricting the
    connectivity to key markets such as agriculture, and basic services
    such as health and education, as well as negatively affecting the
    country's competitiveness,' the press release said.

    "As in the case of the original project, rehabilitation of additional
    lifeline roads would create temporary jobs in rural areas, and improve
    access to basic social services," said Jean-Michel Happi, World Bank
    Country Manager for Armenia." The project will also improve market
    connectivity for rural areas and build upon the ongoing efforts to
    strengthen the basis for growth and competitiveness in needy
    communities."

    Since the launch of the Lifeline Road Improvement Project (LRIP) in
    2009, there have been noticeable improvements in local employment,
    journey time reduced on average by 40 percent. The LRIP is
    rehabilitating about 11 percent of the lifeline network and has
    demonstrated the importance of roads to the rural population along
    with economic gains, which can be made from improved connectivity. The
    World Bank-financed LRIP for the total amount of US$101.6 million has
    already upgraded 433 km of lifeline roads across the regions. In
    addition, more than 39,000 person-months of local jobs were created,
    which also supported local employment in construction when the economy
    was suffering from the recent crisis.

    "The sections of rehabilitated network help farmers and small
    businesses in rural areas to bring their produce to market more easily
    and at a lower cost," added Vickram Cuttaree, Head of the World Bank
    project team. "The civil works will start in spring. The project will
    also support the Government efforts to improve the sustainability of
    public investment through the use of more efficient contracts and
    improvement of MoTC management of the lifeline road network."

    The LRNIP has two main components. First, it will support lifeline
    road improvement with rehabilitation of 170 km of roads, located
    across the regions. Around 73 km (seven road segments) will be
    improved in 31 communities in Aragatsotn, Armavir, Gegharquniq,
    Kotaik, Lori and Siuniq marzes throughout the first year of
    implementation, and serve around 70,000 people. Several innovative
    pilot contracts will be introduced, including the combination of
    rehabilitation and routine maintenance in a single contract and the
    use of micro-enterprises for basic routine maintenance. A strong
    emphasis is put on ensuring that resources are allocated to
    maintenance and that routine maintenance, which is the cheapest and
    most critical type of maintenance, is done on more kilometers of
    roads.

    In addition, a technical assistance component will strengthen MoTC
    capacity to manage road assets, support several road safety measures,
    assess the feasibility of performance based contracts, support the
    development of a road sector financing plan, and monitor social
    indicators and issues in areas where roads have been improved.

    The LRNIP will also continue supporting the "Safe Village" program
    through small road safety civil works combined with awareness
    campaigns at community level. Under LRIP the village of Gyulagarak was
    selected as the first pilot for a "Safe Village" program and a
    combination of traffic control measures, footway construction, and an
    education program in the village school have been implemented. The
    LRNIP will implement at least four safe villages. In addition, all
    road rehabilitation will incorporate safety features and efficient
    design standards.

    The IBRD Specific Investment Loan (SIL) has a maturity of 25 years
    including a grace period of 10 years.

    Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments
    to Armenia total approximately US$1,669,6 million. -0-

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