ANTANANARIVO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China will finance the rehabilitation of a national road in northern Madagascar with a budget of 155 million U.S dollars.
Madagascar's Foreign Minister Naina Andriantsitohaina and the charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Madagascar Chen Xiaolei signed on Wednesday in the presence of Madagascar's president Andry Rajoelina the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the granting of a preferential loan by China to Madagascar to finance the rehabilitation of the national road linking Vohemar to Ambilobe.
This means that the funding will be released next week and the rehabilitation of the road that connects the two regions of Diana and Sava will begin, Rajoelina said after the ceremony held at the presidential palace in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
This project, sometimes described as "the works of the century", is a project long awaited by the people of the north, Chen said.
The project connects Ambilobe and Vohemar in northern Madagascar, with a length of about 150 km. This part of Madagascar produces cloves, cocoa and vanilla but the road is in poor condition.