Uzbekistan, Tashkent, July 8 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan intends to attract loan worth $170 million from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for the construction of 100-km section of the National Road M-39 in 2010, a source in the Republican Road Fund under the Finance Ministry told Trend.
The source reported that representatives of interested ministries and departments together with the Uzbek assessment mission and the IDB work the details of the bank's financial participation in the project.
The project is expected to be ready for submission to the IDB Board of Directors in late August this year.
Earlier, the ADB Board of Directors approved a loan package worth $ 600 million for Uzbekistan for this project in April 2010, which will be allocated during 2010-2012 in three tranches.
The funds will be used to reconstruct sections of the Gusar-Bukhara-Nukus-Beineu Road with a length of 220 kilometers.
Uzbekistan plans to build a first-category national highway worth $2.6 billion by 2015.
Under the national program, plans include constructing four sections of roads along the Beineu-Kungrad-Bukhara-Samarqand-Tashkent-Andijan, Bukhara-Alat, Bukhara-Karshi-Gusar-Termez and Samarkand-Guzar routes, with a total length of 1.501 million kilometers.
Under the project, 400-kilometer four-lane cement highways, 813-kilometer four-lane asphalt highways, 288-kilometer two-lane asphalt roads and seven transport interchanges will be built in the course of six years.
The project is divided into four sections - Beineu-Kungrad-Bukhara-Samarkand-Tashkent-Andijan, Bukhara-Alat, Bukhara-Karshi-Termez and Gusar-Samarkand-Guzar.
The total length of Uzbek roads is 146,400 kilometers. About 20 international transport routes run through the country.
The government will also allocate funds worth $1.68 billion for the project. Moreover, the Chinese government's credit line for Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries and other international financial institutions will allocate funds for the project.
Uzbekistan became a member of the IDB in 2003. During this time the bank has provided funds more than $ 250 million to the country worth for projects in health, education, agriculture, power and support of private entrepreneurship.
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