Government, French discuss €3.5 million road, drainage project

Officials of the Central African Republic and the French Development Agency have started talks on the implementation of a €3.5-million road repair and water drainage project for the capital, Bangui, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Wednesday. The agency's official in charge of infrastructure and development, Giani Sartena, met the CAR Minister for Housing, Urbanisation and Reconstruction of Public Buildings, Abraham Ngoto, on Tuesday in Bangui. The infrastructure project will consist of draining stagnant water and repairing roads in Bangui's densely populated suburbs of Ngou Ciment, Yapele, Bakongo and Wango. The four suburbs are among those whose roads have been in a state of disrepair for years and areas where rainwater constitutes a major health hazard, by providing a ready breeding ground for mosquitoes. Similar projects have already been implemented in other Bangui suburbs and in the provincial towns of Berberati, Carnot and Nola (186 km, 281 km, and 252 km west of Bangui) and in Bria, 597 km northeast of the capital. The government is repairing all of Bangui's major roads, most of which were last repaired in the late 1970s, under the rule of the self-proclaimed emperor, Jean Bedel Bokassa. Some streets have disappeared completely, having been overgrown with grass or having been washed away by rainwater.