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Madagascar Gets $178 Million Financing to Boost Regional Trade

  

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved, Wednesday in Abidjan, the granting of a loan of 178.75 million US dollars to the government of Madagascar for the implementation of the Development Project of trade corridors and facilitation.

“The project will contribute to opening up southern Madagascar and will participate in strengthening the resilience of the populations, in the face of recurrent food insecurity in this part of the country,” said Adam Amoumoun, the country manager in Madagascar of the African Bank of development.

The project, which constitutes the second phase of the corridor development and trade facilitation project, benefits from financial support from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional financing window. It has three main objectives. The first is the improvement of accessibility conditions in southern Madagascar. The second is under the promotion of trade and investment through the facilitation of export, import and investment procedures, as well as the development of a culture of competition. The third objective is to support the inter-modality links between road and inland waterways which, in this case are provided by the connection between road corridors in the south of Madagascar and the port of Tulear which opens onto the Mozambique Channel. The latter leads to the Mozambican port network, the target of which is, for this project, the port of Beira which will constitute the gateway to connect Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia to the DRC. Beyond this corridor, it is an important connection to the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

Mozambique, through the port of Beira, will be mainly concerned by studies and other frameworks of influence on trade facilitation, but also by interconnections with the port of Tulear in Madagascar.

The project will consist in particular of carrying out development and asphalting works on two sections of essential roads connected to the port of Tulear: this is the RNT 12A over 121 km with 11 bridges in the south-east and the RN 9 with a length of 185 km in the southwest, so about 306 km. The Bank will fully cover RNT 12A and other partners have expressed their willingness to intervene in the financing of the entire project. The establishment of a national quality control laboratory and cold rooms for perishable goods at border level are also scheduled.

In general, the project supported by the African Development Bank aims to improve the living conditions of the populations by creating sources of income. Thus, beneficiaries will be called upon to participate in road construction works and related developments through the delivery of services, work and exchange opportunities. In addition, the training of production entities will provide new knowledge to the population, in particular to women. The project must have a significant impact on the economic dynamism of the zones of influence, by an induced effect on the development of the agricultural and tourist sectors of the zones which have a great potential, until then not exploitable because of the isolation. .

The project covers the regions of Anôsy and Atsimo Atsinanana in the south-east, as well as the regions of Menabe and Atsimo Andrefana in the south-west, which constitute the main areas of influence. The direct beneficiary populations are mainly farmers, fishermen and agro-pastoralists and especially traders, estimated at around 800,000 people.

On November 15, 2021, the active portfolio of the African Development Bank in Madagascar included 19 operations, for a total amount of $ 573.84 million, notably in three major sectors: energy (32.4%), l agriculture (17.6%), multi-sector (8.1%), industrialization (7.9%) and the environment (0.2%).

This article was from a press release distributed by Afdb.com.  You can start earning money by becoming our Independent Reporter or Contributor. Contact us at IR@downtownafrica.com

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