The World Bank Board has approved a 50 million-dollar grant to help reopen and maintain 1, 800 km of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) as the country recovers from a decade of civil war.

The High Priority Roads Reopening and Maintenance (Pro-Routes) project is "critical for the physical reunification, for achieving high, sustained and shared growth and for reconnecting the social fabric" of the African country, said the World Bank in a statement released on Wednesday.

The 1,800 km of earth roads envisaged in three provinces out of eleven under this project will serve the highest populated areas and connect to a network of about 7,000 km of high-priority roads already funded by various donors, including the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's soft lending arm.

The Pro-Routes project fits the road paving program to be funded by China either by connecting to it or by reopening sections that will be upgraded to paved standard, according to the World Bank.

"This project complements the massive investments in roads announced by the Chinese and is an illustration of the extent to which donors are willing to join forces to achieve quick and significant results on the ground, in ways that improve harmonization, cut transaction costs and ensure that donors are aligned with the priorities defined by the country," said Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, the World Bank Country Director for DR Congo and Congo.

DR Congo has identified a high-priority road network of 15,800 km of which 9,135 km of unpaved roads have been targeted for fast reopening under reduced technical standards supported by this project. The financial needs for rehabilitating the high-priority network, without upgrading to paved standard, are estimated at 650 million dollars, said the World Bank.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2008)