Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 19 / Trend I.Khalilova /
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) plans to approve the allocation of $200 million for a project to improve water and sanitation systems in Azerbaijan by Sept.23, the IDB Baku Office reported.
"The ADB Board of Directors will consider the issue on Sept.17-30," the office reported.
The Azerbaijani government reported that the total project cost in accordance with the feasibility study is $ 270 million. The project will cover six regions - Astara, Dashkesan, Tartar, Gadabay, Samukh and Gazakh.
IDB plans to finance 74 percent of total project costs, namely for the reconstruction of water supply and sewerage, replacement of water treatment plants, and work on the purification of waste water.
The project funding is part of a new cooperation program for the period 2011-2013 which includes two projects on water supply and sewerage, each of which the bank earlier planned to allocate about $110 million. However it was later decided to merge these two projects into one large project.
Azerbaijan has been an IDB member since 1992. Today, the IDB portfolio in the country has reached $700 million. The IDB changed their approach to financing projects in Azerbaijan by increasing the maximum amount of credit allocated for one project nearly five times. Earlier, the limit of financing a project was set between $30-40 million by the IDB. The bank can now allocate up to $150 million.
It was proposed to consolidate the projects by combining several projects into one by increasing the limit within the preparation of a new strategy for cooperation.
The program is $1.4 billion. The share of the country's participation in the bank's capital amounts to 0.13 percent.
The Islamic Development Bank is an international financial institution established in pursuance of the Declaration of Intent issued by the Conference of Finance Ministers of Muslim Countries held in Jeddah in December 1973. The Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Governors took place in July 1975, and the Bank was formally opened on 20 October 1975.