French devt agency to fund rehabilitation of rural roads in Imo

The federal government has signed a financing agreement of USD 60million with the French Development Agency to fund the rehabilitation of rural roads in Imo state. The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Denys Gauer and the Deputy Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Nigeria, […]

The federal government has signed a financing agreement of USD 60million with the French Development Agency to fund the rehabilitation of rural roads in Imo state.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Denys Gauer and the Deputy Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Nigeria, Mr André Hue.

 

The French Embassy, in a statement by its Press Officer, Damilola Ayodeji, said the amount would be on-lent to the Government of Imo State for the implementation of the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP II), already implemented in Adamawa, Enugu, Niger and Osun States.

 

Nigeria has a relatively dense but largely deteriorated road network due to lack of maintenance.

 

The deterioration of the road networks deeply hinders economic activity, particularly in the agricultural sector, which contributes 40% of Nigeria’s GDP and employs more than 50% of the population.

 

In rural areas, nearly two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. This situation is mainly due to the inaccessibility of these areas, and to the difficulties encountered by farmers in selling their produce in markets.

 

The funding from AFD would allow Imo State to rehabilitate 300 km of rural roads and to build 15 river crossings as well as putting in place an institutional scheme for their maintenance, involving user communities.

 

“The RAMP and its extension to Imo – co-financed by AFD and the World Bank – will make rural areas more accessible and improve transport conditions for their population,” the statement said.

 

The funding, the statement said, was to reduce poverty in rural areas and boosting the agricultural sector by developing rural transport infrastructure, which includes the rehabilitation of roads, building of bridges and other river-crossings.

 

The support would also ensure the maintenance of all rehabilitated roads and support Imo State in setting up pilot maintenance projects, as well as strengthening the project management capacities of administrations, at state level, it added.