Washington, D.C., approved US$21 million in additional grant financing on Thursday for the Lao Road Sector Project.
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors in Washington, D.C., approved US$21 million in additional grant financing on Thursday for the Lao Road Sector Project.
The grant will build upon the excellent progress made in road construction under the previous grant of US$27.8 million, which was approved in 2010, the World Bank reported.
According to the World Bank, the newly approved financing augments the Bank's support for the programme, which is aimed at improving road services on two main national corridors and important parts of the provincial road network.
The Lao Road Sector Project is also conducting rehabilitation works on the roads damaged by Typhoon Ketsana and establishing a contingency fund for quick disaster response in the road sector in Laos.
The World Bank team leader for the project, Sombath Southivong said, “The additional financing grant is very timely. It will support the scaling up of programmes to advance road services in Laos and focus on increasingly important rehabilitation work on roads damaged by natural disasters”.
The original Lao Road Sector Project has already contributed to significant achievements in the upgrading of national roads, periodic maintenance of the provincial road network, and road safety improvements in Laos.
Currently, just over 1,000 kilometres of the provincial road network has received maintenance, exceeding the target of 800km which was set. The target of repairing and improving 60 percent of roads damaged by Typhoon Ketsana was almost reached, with 55 percent of roads repaired.
Nearly 290 kilometres of national roads and almost 730 kilometres of provincial roads have been repaired and upgraded. The Lao government and other companies and organisations have financed the remaining 45 percent of road works in Laos.
With this additional grant, the World Bank seeks to finance a scaling up of efforts to enhance the disaster resilience of two key national roads and priority sections of the provincial network.
It also intends to further strengthen the institutional capacities of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in Laos, bolstering the management and maintenance of the national road network.
In particular, additional financing would top up the emergency contingency fund, depleted following Typhoons Haima and Nok Ten, and would replenish the sectors from which resources were reallocated to meet emergency road repairs after these typhoons.
In addition, it will boost the institutional aspects of the project, strengthening management capacities at both the central and provincial levels, fiduciary, environmental and social safeguard management, traffic safety, sector governance and the management of innovative financing instruments.
The Lao Road Sector Project is an important part of the Lao PDR Country Partnership Strategy, endorsed by the World Bank Board in March 2012, which aims to improve the connectivity of the country through a robust program of road improvement and eventual expansion, with new investments in provincial infrastructure.
