Tunisia Road Infrastructure Modernization Project, the implementation of which began back in 2016, is set to receive over US$ 114M stimulus in form of a loan for the execution of the second phase, following an agreement signed between the government of the North African country and African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
This phase reportedly features the rehabilitation of a total of 230.6 kilometers of roads in the governorates of Siliana, Kasserine, Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid, and Gafsa and the conversion of the Enfidha-Kairouan road into a 2×2 lane.
The first phase of the project, which is currently 80% complete and scheduled to be fully finished by the end of the year, comprises the renovation of a total of 719 kilometers of roads across 21 governorates.
Aim for the Tunisia Road Infrastructure Modernization Project
Samir Saied, the North African country’s Minister of Economy and Planning, said that the investments proposed as part of the Tunisia Road Infrastructure Modernization Project will help to reduce regional imbalances by focusing a significant portion of operations in the disadvantaged governorates.
He explained that the main focus is to respond to traffic evolution, improve user movement on the road network, and promote an efficient, inclusive, and sustainable transportation system, adding that the road infrastructure modernization project will be prioritized in the development plan that is currently in preparation.
The Tunisia Road Infrastructure Modernization Project is projected to create at least 2,602 permanent jobs. 204 microenterprises, 92 in phase I and 112 in phase II, will also be created as a result of the project.
Reported earlier
Nov 2015
AfDB boosts infrastructure construction projects in Tunisia
The African Development Bank (AfDB), has boosted infrastructure construction projects in Tunisia following the approval of US$210mn to fund the projects in the country.
Additional funding for the infrastructure construction projects in Tunisia will come from Africa Growing Together Fund and the Middle Income Countries Technical Assistance Fund.
719 km of classified roads are set to be rehabilitated under the Tunisia Road Infrastructure Modernization Project (PMIR). These roads are majorly in the country’s inland governorates mainly in the West, Center-West, and North-West.
This road project will also see periodic maintenance of 2, 500km of classified roads which were upgraded under previous road projects funded by AfDB, the Tunisian government, and other donors over the past decades.
PMIR will help improve mobility on the classified road network through reduction of road network cutting down on transport hindrances that have been caused by the narrow road and structure of the carriageways.
The project will protect the existing road setup while fostering intra- and inter-regional trade and reducing regional social disparities. It will also help in the reduction of accidents and improve road infrastructure resilience which comes as an effect of climate change.
African Development Bank has continued to play a major role in boosting construction projects not only in Tunisia but across Africa. The bank was a major financier in the construction of Kenya’s Thika Super Highway project.
Dec 2021
US$ 117M+ for Road Infrastructure Modernization Project in Tunisia
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved, in December in Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d’Ivoire, a loan of slightly over US$ 117M for the implementation of PMIR II or rather the second phase of the Road Infrastructure Modernization Project in Tunisia.
This phase will see the rehabilitation of a stretch of over 230 kilometers of classified roads in the governorates of Gafsa, Kairouan, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, and Siliana, and the periodic maintenance of a 1,000 km stretch, a part of which will be supported by 80 microenterprises created for this purpose.
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The project also includes the development, in 2 x 2 lanes, of the RN2 linking Enfidha to Kairouan.
The objective of the 2nd phase of the Road Infrastructure Modernization Project in Tunisia
This program, according to the multilateral development finance institution, intends to promote an efficient and sustainable transport system that is capable of developing intra and inter-regional trade and to ensure greater accessibility to priority regions and the North African Country’s main development poles in order to support growth and create favorable conditions for youth employment.
“In about five years to come, this new operation will help to better integrate the territories by improving access to the road network for approximately 700,000 users, ” said Mohamed El Azizi, the Managing Director of the African Development Bank for North Africa adding that,
“On average, it will reduce the journey time on the RN2 by more than half and almost 1,800 new jobs will be created during and after the implementation phase. This is a new milestone in successful cooperation that over the last decade, has made it possible to modernize more than 70% of the Tunisian classified road network.”
