Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakh President signed an additional loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Western Europe - Western China international transport corridor, the Kazakh presidential press-service reported.
The bank will provide Kazakhstan with a $54.5 million loan for a period of 19 years, according to the additional agreement.
The loan will be used to finance the reconstruction of a 62 kilometer road section of Western Europe - Western China transport corridor into a road of the first technical category with cement-concrete coverage and four-lane traffic.
This section is located between the 'Zhibek Zholy' border post on the state border with Uzbekistan and the 742nd kilometer of Tashkent-Shymkent road.
The implementation of this agreement will increase the average speed of traffic at the section and significantly improve the quality of the road, contributing to the growth of the safety level of roads in the country.
The EBRD has provided a $142 million loan to Kazakhstan for the reconstruction of this road section earlier. The maturity of the previous loan is 18 years, including a four-year grace period.
The construction of the international Western Europe-Western China highway started in 2009. According to the Kazakh Transport and Communication Ministry, some 1,406 kilometers of highway were built in Kazakhstan in 2013 within the Western Europe-Western China transport corridor project implementation. The project is planned to be completed in 2015. The whole corridor project is being financed by several international financial institutions including the EBRD, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).