Yerevan/Mediamax/. World Bank (WB) approved a US$ 40 million loan for the second Additional Financing for the rural Road Improvement Project for Armenia.

Mediamax reports that WB Energy and Infrastructure Programs Analyst Ani Balabanyan said this at a news conference in Yerevan today. According to her, within the framework of the second Additional Financing for Lifeline Road Improvement Project (LRIP-AF2), they plan to reconstruct 190km of roads in 9 regions of the republic.

She reminded that the main program on constructing rural roads in Armenia was approved by WB in February, 2009. The total cost of the project makes over $100mln and provides for reconstruction of 430km of roads in the country.

Ani Balabanyan stressed that 153km of rural roads has already been repaired and 12 thousand new workplaces have been created. They plan to involve 37 thousand workers during implementation of the entire project.

LRIP program also provides for improvement of the quality of reconstructed roads, their compliance with international standards and norms. WB will allocate $1mln for those purposes.

The loan is provided for 25 years with the period of grace of 10 years. Since 1992, the World Bank has allocated $1 358,7mln to Armenia.