Baku, Azerbaijan, July 24
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The World Bank (WB) began to explore the state of Azerbaijan's energy infrastructure as part of a project realized jointly with Azerishig JSC, the country's single electricity distribution operator, the WB office in Baku told Trend July 24.
"The mission is being headed by the WB lead energy specialist Salvador Rivera. Currently the mission representatives are visiting the energy facilities located in different regions of the country to assess their condition," said the WB office.
The WB office also said that the bank's experts arrived in Azerbaijan this week and will be in the country until July 26.
"One week will be enough for the experts to have an overall impression about the state of the energy system of Azerbaijan," the office told Trend.
The WB has decided to accelerate the preparation of a project to improve the electricity supply in Azerbaijan.
The project is meant for the improvement of the quality of the energy infrastructure in Azerbaijan. Specific regions will be defined for this.
Aside from that, the project involves the improvement of the financial stability of Azerishig.
Azerbaijan's government also requested a $750 million worth financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve the country's energy supply.
The ADB project, planned jointly with the Azerishig, will cover the entire country. The loan will be allocated in three tranches, the first of which is to be used to fund the work in those regions where the electricity supply situation is worse.
The total cost of the project, implemented jointly with the ADB, stands at $1 billion, according to the preliminary data.
Edited by SI