Additional WB funding, intended for the rural roads reconstruction will help reduce harvesting losses to 40 per cent , Aristomene Varoudakis , the head of WB Yerevan office, told a press conference on Monday. “The program will help farmers to reduce crop losses up to 40 per cent on the way of delivering products to the market, reduce transport costs, which will result in increased income,” he said, adding that Armenia’s rural roads in the regions are in poor condition, which result in significant losses in the economy.
The Executive Board of the World Bank on August 27 approved an additional loan funds for Armenia in the amount of 36,6 million USD for “Lifeline Roads Improvement Project”. Credit funds will be provided at the 25- year period, with a 10-year grace period with the crediting rate Libor. Construction works, he said, will be launched in late September 2009 and will be completed by November 2010. “Upon completion of construction works about 140km of rural roads in seven regions of Armenia will be repaired,” the head of WB Yerevan office said.
Mr. Varoudakis stressed that the restoration of rural roads will facilitate the creation of temporary jobs that will mitigate the impact of the global crisis on the Armenian economy.
