A loan agreement for $22,000,000 for road construction projects in Israel, providing a new highway network, was signed today at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) here. Signatories were Sir William Hlif, vice-president of the bank, and Aryeh Manor, Economic Minister of the Israel Embassy.
The loan, pending for more than a year, will aid only part of the overall highway program to cost Israel an estimated total of $46,000,000. The grant will cover Israel’s foreign exchange requirements for the highway program including the need to purchase equipment and hire of foreign consultants.
The Israeli program, the bank noted, aims to provide 512 miles of interurban highways to be built or reconstructed, giving better communication with ports; to reduce traffic congestion and transport costs and improving highway safety. Included in the program are blueprints for about 155 miles of feeder and access roads, linking settlements with main highways.
The work, to be done in the next four and a half years, will link Sodom in the Negev with the southernmost port of Eilat, will include another highway between Sodom and Tel Shoket via the new Negev industrial region of Arad, and will improve highways now congested with traffic between Tel Aviv and Haifa and between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The loan was given to Israel for a 17-year period, and will bear interest of 5-1/2 percent. Amortization is to begin in 1967.
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