The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved two grants and a loan, worth a total of $105.3-million, to finance the Lovua-Tshikapa section of the Batshamba-Tshikapa road project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The project would aim to provide access to the country’s Bandundu and West Kasaï provinces with a view to improving the service level of the transport logistics chain on the Kinshasa-Tshikapa road as well as the living conditions of local communities.

It involved the development of a 56 km portion of the Batshamba-Tshikapa road between Lovua and Tshikapa on the National Road 1 (NR1), including the construction of a new bridge over the Kasaï river.

Construction of the road would take place from December 2013 to December 2018 and would be jointly cofinanced by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the African Development Fund (ADF).

The contributions of the DFID and the ADF to the project’s total cost, estimated at $105.3-million, represented 79.9% and 20% respectively.

The AfDB’s involvement in the project would help to strengthen its previous and ongoing operations on the road axis and extend its support to other key provinces in the country.

The bank said in a statement on Thursday that the project aligned with the DRC’s transport policies framework and was consistent with the pillars of its Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2011-2015, whose main thrust included the improvement of access to basic social services. 

The policies framework plan proposed massive transport infrastructure investments and the consolidation of sustainable development through the rehabilitation of old asphalted roads, the construction of new roads and the maintenance of roads.

Aligned to the key objectives of the bank’s ten-year strategy, which emphasised a gradual transition to green growth, the project also aligned with the AfDB’s operational priorities.