NW DEVT III-NEW SETT

closed

The loan would help finance a third phase of the Bank's participation in the Northwest Region Integrated Development Program, a region covering the state of Rondonia and 14 municipalities in the central and western part of the state of Mato Grasso. The program aims at increasing the productivity, income, and social welfare of the region's present and future population, and is expected to benefit directly some 120,000 small-scale farm families. At the core of the program is the paving of the Cuiaba-Porto Velho highway, and the investments required to achieve the balanced socio-economic development of the road's area of influence while protecting the region's Amerindian population and natural environment. The proposed project seeks to provide land, facilities, and assistance to migrant farm families arriving in Rondonia, and to develop cost-effective settlement and environmental protection methods for the Amazon region in Brazil. About 15,000 farm families would be settled in unoccupied areas selected through surveys demonstrating their agricultural aptitude. The project would support development of appropriate agriculture, extension and research programs, and small-scale forestry operations. Investment credit would also be financed under the project.