Ecuador will use a $60 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve its rural road network in 23 provinces, with the aim of improving road safety, improving the resilience of the road network, reducing travel times, enabling greater access to goods and social services, and promoting greater equity in the country’s economic growth.
The government’s road-improvement program, PROVIAL, facilitates development of productive and logistical corridors in the provinces by improving rural roadways. It also aims to reinforce the ability of regional governments to manage their road assets and ensuresafety for bicycles and pedestrians on those roadways. The program will finance preparation of technical studies and engineering designs for road projects targeting the improvement of regional logistics.
The representative sample of projects, about 30 percent of the total loan amount, is expected to rehabilitate 143 kilometers of roads, decrease vehicle operating costs by an average of 20 percent by 2019, and reduce travel time by 25 percent.
The $60 million IDB loan is for a 25-year term, with a 12½ year grace period and a LIBOR-based interest rate. To that amount, the government is contributing an additional $34.6 million of its own funds.