African Development Bank approves $165mn to develop Madagascar roads
Project will contribute to the economic and social integration of southern Madagascar by opening up the region.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a $165 million loan to Madagascar to develop critical trade corridors and improve regional connectivity.
The funding, granted on December 11, 2024 in Abidjan, will support the third phase of a major infrastructure project to improve trade corridors across the country, says an official release from the bank.
"Funding will be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional lending arm. The project aims to contribute to economic and social integration in the southern part of Madagascar by opening up every part of the region. It will achieve this by building and operationalising transport corridors to the rest of the country and Africa as a whole while strengthening trade facilitation procedures and processes between the ports of Tuléar and Beira."
Adam Amoumoun, Head, Madagascar, African Development Bank says: “In the long term, the project will support a significant increase in national and intra-regional commercial trade, helping to promote investments. At the same time, the project will create new economic opportunities for local people by improving trade in agricultural products, livestock, and fish. It will contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction in the region by improving access to markets.”
Solomon Quaynor, Vice President, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, African Development Bank Group adds: “By improving vital road infrastructure, we are not just building pathways but unlocking lifelines to economic opportunity and social progress. These roads will directly connect rural communities to markets, healthcare, and education while indirectly sparking entrepreneurship, boosting trade, and empowering women and youth with sustainable employment.”
The project will improve key road infrastructure across two southern regions of Madagascar: Atsimo Andrefana and Menabe, the release added. This includes upgrading a 78-kilometer stretch of road between Bevoay and Morombe, which passes through important agricultural areas that produce 29,000 tonnes of crops annually.