Economic Development Corridor project: international tender to be launched in Q2 2024

Tunis: An international tender will be launched in the second quarter of 2024 to select the promoters who will build the Tunisia Economic Development Corridor, Moez Garma, director of motorway projects at the Directorate General of Bridges and Roads, under the Ministry of Public of Works, said on Tuesday. In a statement to TAP news agency, he added that "work will start in 2025 and continue over a period of 36 months". "After completing the technical, environmental and social studies, as well as the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), the Public Works Department is currently working on finalising the land acquisition file. In fact, the construction of the economic corridor requires the regularisation of the situation of 1970 plots of land, with a total surface area of 526 ha," he pointed out. According to a document published by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) in January 2024, the aim of the Economic Corridor project is to develop economic exchanges between coastal and inland regions on the one ha nd and with neighbouring countries on the other, to reduce inequalities between regions and to improve the transport system and road safety. The project will thus benefit households, whose mobility will be facilitated by improved road infrastructure; businesses, through the road links provided by the corridor; SMEs, which will have better access to finance; and women, who will have better access to agricultural land and finance. The project includes the capitalisation of the Impact Fund, managed by CDC, to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the regions concerned, thus facilitating the creation of projects in the areas through which the road passes. The Director of Motorway Projects said the Economic Development Corridor involves the construction of a 4-lane section of the National Road 13 (RN13) to improve links between the governorates of Sfax, Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, over a total length of 181 km. The infrastructure, which currently occupies a 13 m car riageway, will be doubled to 2x2 lanes, with a carriageway width of 24 to 26 m, not including the widths required for embankments, drainage systems, junctions and safety equipment. The right of way reserved for this road and its ancillaries is 50 metres. Work will cover 66.4 km in Sfax governorate, 4.4 km in Kairouan governorate, 77.7 km in Sidi Bouzid governorate and 32.5 km in Kasserine governorate. According to Garma, "the project will develop and upgrade 117.4 km of feeder roads to facilitate access to and from the R13 for people living in neighbouring regions. The aim is to reduce regional economic disparities through these improved road links along the Kasserine-Sidi Bouzid-Sfax axis and by facilitating access to finance for SMEs along the corridor". Initiated by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the RN13 economic corridor is co-financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The cost of building the road is estimated at 1,475 million dinars. The World Bank's Board of Execu tive Directors, on March 14, approved a loan of $220 million (equivalent to 681.3 million dinars) to help finance the project. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse