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Saudi Fund issues $30 million to reconstruct Uzbek national highway

Business Materials 1 July 2011 13:51 (UTC +04:00)

Uzbekistan, Tashkent, July 1 / Trend D.Azizov /

The Saudi Fund for Development provided a loan worth $30 million to Uzbekistan to reconstruct the Guzar-Chim-Kukdala Motorway, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

A loan agreement was signed during the annual meeting of the Governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on June 28-30.
The report did not specify conditions of agreement.

Tashkent hosted a meeting of Arab Coordination Group (ACG) members in March 2010. The meeting considered the question of co-financing the Uzbek national highway construction project. Following the meeting, the Saudi Fund for Development, along with other members of ACG expressed their willingness to finance the project.

The Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and the Uzbek government signed a loan agreement worth $20.4 million in April. The loan is assigned for a project to reconstruct a 73-kilometer section of the Guzar-Chim-Kukdala Motorway (4P87) in southern Uzbekistan.

The loan is assigned for a 20 year period, including a 5-year preferential period with an annual interest rate of 2.5 percent, plus a 0.5 percent needed to cover administrative and other costs.

Work on reconstruction is expected to begin in the second half of the year.

Earlier, Uzbek President Islam Karimov approved a program on national road construction until 2015. The program is worth $2.6 billion. Construction of four roads is planned along the Beinau-Kungrad-Bukhara-Samarkand-Tashkent-Andijan, Bukhara-Alat, Bukhara-Karshi-Guzar-Termez, and Samarkand-Guzar routes.

Under the program, 400 kilometers of four-lane cement concrete roads and 813 kilometers of four-lane asphalt roads are planned for construction, as well as 288 kilometers of two-lane asphalt roads. The program envisages construction of seven transport road junctions and 1,488 kilometers of bridges and underpasses.

The project will be financed by the Uzbek government for $1.68 billion of credit from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a credit line from China, the SCO member-states, and other international financial institutes.
The total length of Uzbek roads is 146,400 kilometers. About 20 international transport routes run through the country.

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