.. HOLD FOR RELEASE • INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 1818 H STREET. ·N.W, WASHINGTON 25, D. C TE' EPHONE. EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Public Disclosure Authorized I:JA Press Release No. 69/19 Subject: IDA and UNDP financing for May 7, 1969 highway technical assistance in Congo (Kinshasa.) A credit of $6 million from the International Development Association (IDA) and a $1.5 million technical assistance grant from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) will enable th~ Government to take the first steps toward rehabilitating its highway network. Public Disclosure Authorized The Government is contributing the equivalent of $2 million toward the cost of the project. The Congo's major centers of population, production and trade are widely s~nttered and an efficient and extensive transport system is essential if the • c,.·,untry is to be integrated administratively, politically and economically. Tile once efficient rail, river and road transport system has deteriorated since 1.udependence and the difficulties which followed. The condition of the highways Public Disclosure Authorized is particularly acute because of a serious weakening of administration, and lack of maintenance and of equipment replacements. The measures now to be undertaken are of an emergency nature and only a small part of what has to be done to establish a viable highway system and administration. However, they will assure more efficient use of personnel and ·funds being used for highway maintenance and rehabilitation; halt the r~1r:i.d deterioration of some of the most important roads; achieve substantial Public Disclosure Authorized s;.:v-tngs in vehicle operating costs; and will encourage incn:?ased production ~-7 ?emoving potential bottlenecks to economic recovery • • /more \ IDA P.R. No. 69/19 - Congo (K)-Highway Technical Assistance • - 2 - The project consists of the provision of consultants' services to give rnr..nsgerial and operational support to the highway administration for 2-1/2 years; the purchase of supplies of spare parts and equipment; and the execu­ tion of a limited number of high priority maintenance and rehabilitation works by contract. A single contract for the consulting services has been negotiated by the Government with a Belgian firm, Recherche et Developpement. These services will be performed by a team stationed at headquarters in Kinshasa and by r~gional teams in four of the Congo's eight provinces which have been selected because of their importance to the economy, particularly in the agricultural .f:i.eld: Kongo Central, Kasai Occidental, Kasai Oriental and Province Orientale- • The IDA credit will be for a term of 50 years including 10 years of grace. r~ will be free of interest but a charge of 3/4 of 1% will be made to cover I~)A' s administrative costs. IDA will serve as Executing Agency for the UNDP grant which will finance half the costs of the consultants' services- - 0 - • .