The World Bank Group
has earmarked US$200 million for upgrading Lebanon’s road network, seen
as a risk to public safety as well as an impediment to urban-rural
development and equitable economic growth. The funds will be used to
repair around 500 kilometres of roads in the first phase of a broader
government plan to revamp the country’s crumbling road sector.
The Roads and Employment Project includes a US$45 million grant from the Bank-administered Concessional Financing Facility
(CFF). It is the first time Lebanon has received funding from the CFF, a
facility created in 2016 to support middle-income countries that have
in the past been recipients of regular World Bank financing, but are
currently experiencing unusual social and economic duress.
“This
is to help Lebanon continue to offer basic services both to its
citizens and to Syrian refugees in the country,” said Ferid Belhaj, the
World Bank’s Director for the Middle East. “By hosting refugees, Lebanon
is offering the international community a global public good.
International financial support needs to increase to match its
generosity.”
The presence of more than 1.5 million
Syrian refugees has put unprecedented pressure on Lebanon’s already
strained infrastructure. It has also fuelled social tensions, and
changed the labour market by increasing the workforce by 35%. The road
repair works would help provide more low-skilled jobs.
“Historically,
the construction sector has been a primary source of income for poorer
Lebanese and Syrians,” stated Ziad El Nakat, Senior World Bank Transport
Specialist. “And it continues to play this role.”
The
Roads and Employment Project would “also improve the quality and safety
of the road network, particularly in less developed regions of the
country, improving connectivity, reducing the cost of transport, and
helping local economies develop through better access to markets and
services,” he said.
Lebanon has one the highest per
capita rates of road accidents in the world. The World Health
Organization estimated the total number of road traffic fatalities in
2015 at 1,088, and their associated economic cost at between 3% and 5%
of GDP.
The importance of regaining public confidence
by investing in the road sector is highlighted in a five-year, US$510
million government plan. The Bank-financed project is aligned with this,
and will help the government mobilise other international development
partners to provide additional funding.
The first phase of the plan has four key objectives:
i) the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing road networks;
ii) the improvement of road safety systems;
iii) the purchase of equipment for emergency roadworks; and
iv) the capacity building to improve management and efficiency in the sector.
The
project will include a survey of up to 6,000 kilometres of primary,
secondary, and tertiary roads in all Lebanese regions to identify those
in most need for rehabilitation.
The non-grant US$155
million loan portion of the package is repayable over 32.5 years,
including a seven-year grace period. With this new package, the World
Bank’s current commitment to Lebanon in grants, loans, and other
concessional financing rises to US$1.3 billion.