World Bank To Spend $315m On Roads

Enugu State has been selected among four states in the country to benefit from the provision of 500 Km rural roads by the World Bank /JTFD road projects under the Second Rural Access and Mobilisation Project,(Ramp2).

This was disclosed recently by the Task Team leader of the project, Mr. Nicholas Peltier – Thiberge when members of the World Bank/Joint French Development Agency on the project paid a courtesy call at the Government House, Enugu.

Thiberge noted that the World Bank takes the issue of provision of rural roads very seriously for the development of rural communities, adding that about 200km of roads will be constructed in Enugu under the scheme

The team leader expressed happiness that the agency’s rural road project is in line with the Enugu State Government rural road development project making the project easy.

He, therefore, called on the state government to cooperate with the agency for the speedy completion of the project in the state to ensure coverage of more kilometers of roads, listing the other three states that would benefit alongside with Enugu State from the project in the country to include Niger, Osun and Adamawa.

The project would, cost the agency 315 million dollars to be financed by the World Bank and the French Development Agency, adding that the World Bank would contribute 195 million dollars while the French Agency would also contribute 120 million dollars.

Responding, Governor Sullivan Chime assured the mission of his administration’s readiness to partner with the agency for the success of the project.

The Governor who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi noted that road development was the priority of the state government, and recalled that on assumption of office that his administration set up a committee to identify the needs of the people in the rural areas.  According to him, the agencies intended project would compliment government’s efforts in that sector of the economy, assuring that in the selection of roads that would be constructed by the agencies, that efforts were made to spread same to all zones, local governments and communities in the state.

He further assured that if completed, the roads would impact positively on the lives of rural dwellers in the state.