Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 March / Trend / The World Bank today approved US$15 million in Additional Financing for the ongoing Rural Investment Project (AzRIP) that aims at improving living standards and increasing the use of infrastructure services for households in rural communities. The Additional Financing Credit will help expand the ongoing AzRIP project to new areas, increasing the number of beneficiaries, ensuring greater cost efficiency, and extending the life of the project by three years.
Poverty in Azerbaijan is now declining rapidly, however most improvements in welfare have been concentrated in the capital, Baku, which causes intense rural-urban migration. In addition, lack of infrastructure discourages investment and commercial activity.
"A balanced long-term program of regional development is a top priority of the Government and we at the World Bank are very happy to provide advice and financing for this effort," said Gregory Jedrzejczak, Country Manager for Azerbaijan.
Approved in 2004, the ongoing Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project has three components including Infrastructure, Capacity Enhancement, and Project Management. The project currently covers 21 districts benefiting poor rural communities (1,000-10,000 population) with high agricultural potential and will now be expanded to an additional 24 districts. The project has contributed to an improvement in the living conditions of rural families by facilitating participatory development planning and providing and rehabilitating priority rural infrastructure identified by communities (e.g., roads, water supply, schools, health posts). The project has also established institutional capacity to promote community development within the State Agency on Agricultural Credits under the Ministry of Agriculture.
"Over the last year and a half the AzRIP team has done a fantastic job so that today AzRIP is one of the key tools in Azerbaijan for successfully addressing rural poverty," said Mark Woodward, Head of the World Bank Task Team supervising the project.
Azerbaijan joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, commitments to the country total approximately US$1.087 billion for 37 operations.