Australia and the Government of East Timor will work together to improve over a third of East Timor’s rural roads over the next four years.
The Australian Ambassador to East Timor and the East Timor Minister for Infrastructure launched one of Australia’s largest programs in East Timor, the Roads for Development (R4D) program on 29 March. Australia has pledged $30 million to the R4D program which will increase access to a range of health and education services for some of East Timor’s poorest and most remote communities. Markets and other sources of income and employment will also become easier to reach.
East Timor has a rural road network covering around 3000 kilometres. The R4D program will rehabilitate and maintain rural roads, and ensure that at least 1150 kilometres are kept in good condition.
The project will be implemented in partnership with East Timor’s Ministry of Infrastructure and the International Labour Organization. The program aims to employ people from rural East Timor wherever possible—more than 50,000 people could secure short-term work in road maintenance.
'Australia is proud to be assisting the Government of East Timor in this sector', said Miles Armitage, Australia’s Ambassador to East Timor, at the launch of R4D. 'Our governments signed a high-level Agreement in November last year where we agreed to work together to achieve the outcomes in East Timor’s Strategic Development Plan. Supporting rural roads was one of the first priorities in that Agreement'.