Kuwait fund inks KD 30m deal for Tunis Rullar roads project
Loan for 912 km rural area streets
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 25: A loan agreement was signed today in Tunis between the Republic of Tunisia and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, whereby the Fund will provide a loan in the amount of KD 30,000,000 (equivalent to about US$ 102 million), to assist in the financing of the Rehabilitation of Rullar Roads Project. It is worth mentioning that the Fund depends exclusively on its own resources in providing its loans and development assistance.
The loan agreement was signed on behalf of the Republic of Tunisia by His Excellency Ziad Al Athari, Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation and was signed on behalf of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development by Abdulwahab AlBader, Director-General of the Fund, in attendance of Abdullah Al-Musaibeeh, Regional Manager for Arab Countries at the Fund.
Aims
The Project aims at contributing to support social and economic development of the Republic of Tunisia, and in particular to improve agricultural productions and enhancing the living standards of the farmers in the project areas, alleviating the migration rates from villages to towns, by improving and rehabilitation of about 148 nos. of rural roads (about 912 km) in 22 governorates of the country. The project aims also to reduce the production costs, saving time and providing easy access to local markets.
The project consists of rehabilitation and asphalting of about 912 km of rural roads between 5 to 7 m with shoulders (between 1 to 1.5 m) the construction of drainage works, safety and protection works, and engineering consultancy services.
By signing this Loan Agreement, the aforementioned loan will represent the thirty seventh loan provided by the Fund for financing of projects, as Kuwait Fund has already extended to the Republic of Tunisia 36 loans in various sectors with a total amount of about 223 million Kuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to about 759 million US$). In addition to the above, the Fund had extended to the Republic of Tunisia 2 Technical Assistance, the total value of them is about KD 400,000 (equivalent to about 1.7 million US$) for the preparation of technical and economic feasibility studies of various projects.