ADF Approves Over 50 Million Dollars in Loans to Ghana....

...and Senegal

The African Development Fund has approved more than 50 million US dollars to finance various projects in Ghana and Senegal.

At its session Friday, the fund's Board of Directors endorsed a loan of about 25.63 million dollars to finance the tariff reform and competitiveness promotion programme in Senegal.

The tariff reform and competitiveness promotion programme is consistent with President Abdoulaye Wade government's strategy aimed at consolidating the bases for growth of the Senegalese economy in line with "the regional integration policy and the poverty reduction objective," the fund said in a news release.

The programme seeks to consolidate public finance recovery, increase external competitiveness of the economy; and support the poverty reduction strategy.

It said that the programme will help achieve the GDP growth objective of at least 5.4 percent a year during the 2000-2002 period through an improvement in the investment rate and a better internal savings respectively from 18.6 percent and 12.3 percent in 1999 to 19.6 percent and 15.2 percent in 2002 as well as keeping inflation under 2 percent.

"The loan will be used to back the government's drive to implement and accelerate major public finance reforms as well as support private sector promotion, poverty alleviation and the country's balance of payment by facilitating eligible goods and services imports for the 2000-2001 period," the release added.

The Board also approved a loan of about 32.04 million dollars to finance the Tetteh Quarshie Mamfe road project in Ghana.

The objective of the project is to contribute towards the Government's goal of poverty reduction and economic development.

It specifically seeks to reduce the travel time, congestion, and vehicle operating cost with a view to reducing road user costs for both passengers and freight.

The project will involve the construction of Tetteh Quarshie Interchange with an elevated motorway consisting of a two-span of 19 meters long each with twin independent decks.

It will also entail the rehabilitation of the 10-km-long Tetteh Quarshie-Pantang to a three-lane asphalt concrete surface dual carriage-way with service roads to serve the frontage developments.

The 30-km-long Pantang-Mamfe section will also be rehabilitated to a single 7-metre wide carriage-way double bitumen surface treatment road with 2-metre single bitumen surface treatment shoulders on both sides.

The project will also contribute to improvement in management information, financial management as well as contract management systems through institutional support to Ghana Highway Authority.

The project total cost amounts to about 85.68 million dollars.