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•   INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR
    RJ:::CONSTRUCT!ON AND DEVELOPMENT
    1818 H STREET, N.W .. WASHINGTON     D. C. 20433    TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360




     Bank Press Release No. 65/38                      Subject:    Increase in Loan
     August 16, 1965                                               to Liberia


           The World Bank has approved an increase of $1,000,000 in a loan of $3,250,000

      it made to Liberia in January 1964 to finance the construction of two new roads and

      improved maintenance over the country's entire road system.           One of the new roads

     will open up a promising area in western Liberia to forest and farm production; the

     other is a section of the road between Monrovia, the capital, and Robertsfield, a

     center of rubber production and the site of Liberia's international airport.

           The additional loan funds will finance part of the increased cost of the



•     project which has risen from $4,550,000 to $5,850,000.          This increase is due prin-

     ~ipally to the fact that final engineering revealed that the base and sub-base on

     part of the·Monrovia---Robertsfield road needed to be strengthened, and the 48-mile

     road from Kle to Pujehun in the extreme west of Liberia needed more drainage struc-

     tur,~s.     Furthermore, the additional funds from the Ba\'k-will cover the foreign ex-

     change costs .of consultants.to. supervise-construction.

           When completed, the road between.Monrovia and Robertsfield will be 35 miles

     long and replace a.round-about 52-mile route.         ,The Kle-Pujehun road will initially

     be an access route between Monrovia and a logging and sawmill operation in virgin

      forests.    The logging.area, .consisting oj 35,000 acres of tropical hardwood forests,

     has s iz.able. S·tauds · of mahogany and other exot.ic woods suitable for export and of

     ordinary woods~in wide use as local.construction lumber.           Ultimately the road should

     help promote agricultural.as well as titnbf~~ development since the soils of the

•    Pujehun area are suitable for the cultiv~tion of rice, oil palm, vegetables and

      fruits.
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     Contracts for the two roads have been awarded on the basis of international

competitive bidding; construction started in May 1965 and should be completed

within two years.   Most of the maintenance equipment being financed by the Bank

loan is on order and shipments have begun to arrive in Liberia.

     The Bank loan, now amounting to $4,250,000, is for a term of 18 years, in-

cluding an 8-year grace period, and bears interest at the rate of 5-1/2% per
annum.




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