The World Bank approved a $45 million loan for the Lifeline Road Network Improvement Project (LRNIP) for Armenia.

This project will assist the Government of Armenia in its on-going efforts to further improve accessibility through the rehabilitation of170 km of the lifeline road network of the country, and create employment mostly for rural population.

Despite visible improvement since 2009, about 50 percent of lifeline roads in Armenia remain in poor condition and there is still an important investment backlog for rehabilitation and maintenance.

“As in the case of the original project, rehabilitation of additional lifeline roads would create temporary jobs in rural areas, and improve access to basic social services,” said Jean-Michel Happi, World Bank Country Manager for Armenia. “The project will also improve market connectivity for rural areas and build upon the ongoing efforts to strengthen the basis for growth and competitiveness in needy communities.”

Since the launch of the Lifeline Road Improvement Project (LRIP) in 2009, there have been noticeable improvements in localemployment, journey timereduced on average by 40 percent. The LRIP is rehabilitating about 11 percent of the lifeline network and has demonstrated the importance of roads to the rural population along with economic gains, which can be made from improved connectivity.

The World Bank-financed LRIP for the total amount of US$101.6 million has already upgraded 433 km of lifeline roads across the regions.In addition, more than39,000 person-months of local jobs were created,which also supported local employment in construction when the economy was suffering from the recent crisis.

The IBRD Specific Investment Loan (SIL) has a maturity of 25 years including a grace period of 10 years.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments to Armenia total approximately US$1,669,6 million.