[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BRAZZAVILLE, 22 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - The government of the Republic of Congo (ROC) has awarded a contract to rebuild 72 km of road from the capital, Brazzaville, to Kinkala, the main town in the country's troubled southern Pool region, according Planning Minister Pierre Moussa.
The road's condition deteriorated during the civil war in the ROC and had since become almost impassable. It will now also be resurfaced.
"This road is a vital artery for the Pool but also for the country because it is a segment of the road to Pointe-Noire," Moussa said on Tuesday.
He is a minister of state as well as minister of planning, development, and economic integration and for the New Partnership for Africa's Development, known as NEPAD.
Pointe-Noire is the country's main port while Brazzaville is some 250 km to the east inland. Until recently, former rebels known as the Ninjas, who have their stronghold in the Pool, had frequently attacked goods and people travelling between the two cities.
Ninjas had been fighting the army from 1998 to 2005.
In January 2006, two international humanitarian organisations, Medècines Sans Frontiéres and the International Committee for the Red Cross, temporarily withdrew their staff after they had been robbed and harassed by armed men thought to be ex-Ninja fighters.
Ninja leader Frédéric Bintsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, said on 12 March that he supported the project and would help create favourable conditions for the road's reconstruction.
The government awarded the road construction contract to SOCOFRAN, a French company.
"The work should begin immediately; the personnel have already been mobilised," Marc Lentini, a spokesman for SOCOFRAN, said.
The project, which is expected to cost 23 billion francs CFA (US $43 million), is being financed by the European Union.
Moussa said the road building would employ 350 people and help make peace efforts credible by helping the Pool relink to the national economy.
In January 2006, the World Bank donated $17 million for the launching of a reintegration programme for 30,000 former rebels in eight of the country's 11 regions.
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