TransJamaican Highway Limited has landed a US$70-million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as carry-on financing on the toll road network in Jamaica that the French company will own under concession for a generation.

The loan was approved September 30, the IDB announced Thursday, saying the money would facilitate TransJamaican's expansion and upgrade of "a network of world-class motorways linking the capital city of Kingston with its western suburbs and central regions of the island".

Shareholders in the Trans-Jamaican project are Bouygues Travaux Publics and Autoroutes du Sud de France.

The funds will partly finance construction of an additional 17-kilometre stretch of the current toll highway, between Sandy Bay and Four Paths in Clarendon, "as well as allow the company to refinance existing indebtedness coming due in the next few years," the IDB said.

TransJamaican did not reply to a request for comment to press time.

The bank did not disclose the price nor terms of the loan, but said it was part of a larger financing package for TransJamaican that includes support from major international development finance institutions.

business@gleanerjm.com