Saturday, November 27, 2010

EU FUNDING FOR MOZAMBICAN ROADS

The European Commission has approved funding of 22.5 million euros (about 30 million US dollars) for the Mozambican road sector for the period 2010-2013.According to Glaucio Calzuola, head of the European Union mission in Mozambique, cited in a Friday EU press release, “Mozambican roads play a special role, both in terms of poverty reduction, by facilitating access by the poor rural population to public services, to markers and to job opportunities, and in terms of promoting economic development, by supporting trade and regional integration”.The release says that the funds are intended to support “the creation in Mozambique of an adequate, well managed, economically efficient and sustainable road network”.It should contribute to achieving the results expected from the Mozambican government’s Integrated Road Sector Programme (PRISE), namely “conclusion of the priority work in the primary network, improved access to the roads, and creation of sustainable mechanisms to preserve and maintain the roads”.Some of the money will be spent on technical assistance to the National Road Authority (ANE) and the Road Fund, though local training for road officials, and on building the management capacity of small and medium companies (SMEs) active in the road sector.The release adds that, under the tenth European Development Fund, the European Commission has allocated 622 million euros to Mozambique for the period 2008-2013. An extra 12.11 million euros was added to cope with price rises and their macro-economic and social consequences, and 11.67 million euros to compensate for fluctuating export revenue.

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