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CAR

The CAR obtains US$18 million in financing to improve infrastructure quality in the capital city of Bangui

Press Release No:2007/390/AFR

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2007 - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a project aimed at improving infrastructure quality in the capital city of Bangui, contributing to an increase in the proportion of the population with access to basic services, and thereby working to reduce poverty, one of the major objectives of the Central African Republic's Government.

This project, in an amount of US$18 million, will have two components: (a) The urgent rehabilitation of urban infrastructures and services, with the related subcomponents (potable water supply, rainwater drainage and channeling, the removal of household solid waste, and the improvement of road infrastructures); (b) Institutional capacity building for the agencies responsible for project implementation, namely the Ministries of Urban Planning, Public Works, and Water Supply, as well as the municipality of Bangui, the Central African Water Distribution Company (SODECA), and the public works and employment agency Agence d'Exécution des Travaux d'Intérêt Public (AGETIP).

In addition to the job opportunities this program will create, in particular through works contracts, it will make a significant contribution to improving the living conditions of the urban and peri-urban populations thanks to the new infrastructures and the upgrading of the waste management services in Bangui.

For further information on this project, visit

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=349999&menuPK=350033&Projectid=P104595

Contacts:

In Washington: Timothy Carrington 1 (202) 473 8133 tcarrington@worldbank.org
In Bangui: Jelena Pantelic (236) 61 65 77 Jpantelic@worldbank.org
In N'Djamena: Edmond Dingamhoudou (235) 52 33 60 edingamhoudou@worldbank.org