The African Development Bank (AfDB) funding consists of a $71 million loan and a $56.8 million grant.
Opening the field of possibilities. This is the objective of the African Development Bank through the project to open up agricultural production areas in eastern Niger, bordering Nigeria.
The financial support was approved last Wednesday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, by the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the AfDB Group.
“This project, which has been awaited for over a decade, is one of the priorities contained in the national transport strategy. It is designed with an integrated approach in order to provide a comprehensive response to the major challenges of the population, particularly the most vulnerable,” said Marie Laure Akin Olugbade, AfDB Director for West Africa.
In addition, she explained, the future infrastructure will contribute to “the development of the wealth and opportunities offered by the region, which will amplify its impact on development, improve the resilience of the population and contribute to the transformation of the rural environment through induced growth.”
The project, which concerns the communes of Hamdara, Wacha and Dungass in the Zinder region, aims primarily to develop and pave 110 kilometers of road. It is expected to reduce travel time along this route, which is heavily used by heavy vehicles.
According to the pan-African Bank, approximately 60,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of this section. At the same time, related developments will be carried out.
These include “the rehabilitation and construction of socio-economic infrastructure, the construction of 150 kilometers of rural tracks and five kilometers of roads in Dungass,” the continental financial institution said.
Finally, the project is expected to support agricultural value chains (construction of farmers’ houses and livestock vaccination parks, installation of dairy units, supply of inputs and small agricultural production equipment, etc.) and to increase access to basic social services (rehabilitation/construction of health centers).
ID/fss/abj/APA