Tunisia signs loan agreement with AfDB for highway project

20 septembre 2011

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has agreed to lend Tunisia €137,340 (£119,670) for a transport infrastructure project.

It will be put towards financing the construction of the Medenine-Jdir Highway and the AfDB stated that the initiative will not only improve access across the north African nation, but will immediately create 2,000 jobs.

The AfDb added that as the highway will boost the number of tourists to the country, more than 30,000 jobs in the tourism industry could eventually be made.

AfDB director of transportation and information technology department Gilbert Mbesherubusa signed the agreement on behalf of the group's vice president for infrastructure. He stated that the organisation was "the first institution to support Tunisia immediately after the January 14th Revolution".

Earlier this year, Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali was displaced following a month of protests, in what the country has now named the Jasmine Revolution.

This transport infrastructure project will help the nation continue to develop and the AfDB added that current traffic conditions are "constantly deteriorating", leading to an increase in air pollution.  

Catégorie: Transport