KAMPALA, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Bank has approved loans and grants totaling over 320 million US dollars to help Uganda's poverty alleviation programs, improve the country's international competitiveness and rural road system, local media reported on Saturday.

    The global institution provided Uganda with a grant of 150 million dollars to support the government's poverty reduction initiatives in education, health, water and sanitation.

    "The grant supports the economic and institutional environment for the sustained implementation of the poverty eradication actionplan reforms," said a statement from the World Bank.

    The bank approved a further 70 million dollars in efforts to make the country more competitive, saying that "this will be accomplished by providing infrastructure and other facilities to support growth, investment in skills, raising productivity, improving quality, standards and reliability of small and medium enterprises."

    The bank provided Uganda with another 107.6 million dollars in loans and grants to upgrade roads to rural and economically important areas.

    Among them, 67.6 million dollars was a credit and 40 million dollars a grant. The money will be used to upgrade and strengthen three high priority national roads, rehabilitate about 300 km of district roads to national road standards and mend about 600 km ofpriority national roads. Enditem