40 million loan expected to boost trade and promote regional integration, and improve road safety and reduce travel costs
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a supplemental loan of up to $40 million to complete the rehabilitation and improvement of Suriname’s strategic Meerzorg–Albina integration corridor, which connects the capital city of Paramaribo to the eastern border with French Guiana. This integration corridor will facilitate transport into French Guiana and to Brazil.
The project will increase access to the country’s major economic zones, boost tourism, trade and regional integration, lower transportation costs and improve road safety. Expected results of the program include a steep decline in travel time from 4.0 hours to 2.5 hours between the capital city of Paramaribo and the border city of Albina, a 15 percent reduction in traffic accidents and road fatalities and a 22 percent reduction of vehicle operating costs on the rehabilitated 140-km-long east-west integration corridor running along the coastal area.
Additionally, the three-year program will support the implementation of a management system for the maintenance of primary roads, including axle load control and the development of a national road safety strategy and action plan.
“The corridor accounts for nearly ten percent of the national primary network and concentrates almost 25 percent of the country’s traffic flow, so its rehabilitation is likely to have a huge positive impact on the country’s economy,” said IDB project team leader Colin Forsythe.
Rehabilitation was identified as a priority because the roadway after more than 30 years of use was badly deteriorated and had outlived its useful life. The corridor roadway will be widened from 6.0 meters to internationally accepted standards of 7.2 meters. The project will resolve the prevailing problems including asphalt cracks, pavement deformations, vegetation invasion of roadside shoulders; inadequate traffic signs and road markings; and drainage network overflows during rainstorms.
The IDB’s lending will supplement a $62.5 million Bank loan approved in 2008 for which counterpart resources were provided by a European Union grant and a French Development Agency (AFD) loan. The new loan is for a 25-year term, with a 3-year grace period and a LIBOR-based interest rate. The Government of Suriname will provide an additional $13.8 million in local counterpart funds.