Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 January /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / On 15 January the Government of Azerbaijan and Asian Development Bank will sign A credit agreement on the project to reconstruct the Masalli-Astara highway at a cost of $200mln, a source stated in the ADB Baku office on 14 January. The project was approved by the ADB Board of Directors on 28 September 2007.
On behalf of Azerbaijan, the document will be signed by the Transport Minister, Ziya Mammadov and on behalf of ADB, economist for road projects, Hong Vang.
The credit agreement is submitted within the framework project of Multitranche Financing Facility (MFF) totaling $500mln, which is for financing three road projects. Currently one project has been agreed and the remaining MFF will be presented up to 2014.
The ADB credit resources will be partially ($190mln) granted from the general resources of the bank (the period of the credit is twenty-four years with a four-year lax period, and under the interest rate of libor+1% per annum), and $20mln - lax (the period of the credit is thirty-two years with an eight-year lax period, and under the interest rate at 1% during the lax period, and 1.5% - during the remaining period). The lax part of the credit is considered for the reconstruction of rural roads linking the highways.