Azerbaijan, Baku, November 25 / Trend, N. Ismailova /
The World Bank (WB) is carrying out the restructuring of Azerbaijan's first national water supply and sanitation improvement project, the WB Baku Office told Trend on Friday.
"The restructuring is being conducted in connection within a background of possible misdemeanour with the purchase rules, whereby real prices for services were higher than that offered by tender. In this connection, it was decided to revise the project's structure and prolong the period of its implementation," the Office reported.
The Office continued to say that work under the project has already been cut from 22 regions to four and that the project will see the full rehabilitation of the water supply and sanitation system in the Shamakha, Gabala, Saatly, and Sabirabad regions. Work in the other regions will be financed using the Office and Islamic Bank for Development's money.
"Though the project's coverage has been narrowed, the WB is not going to reduce its financing as the loan money will be redistributed for the full completion of work in these four regions," the WB Office reported.
The WB approved $230 million for the first similar project valued at a total of $310 million. The Government assigned the rest $80 million. As of September 2011, of $230 million as the WB loan, only $20.3 million were spent so $209.7 million remained unspent.
The WB Executive Board approved the loan for the first project in June 2007 and the project was launched in June 2008. The project aimed at improving the quality and reliability of the water supply and sanitation systems in the Azerbaijan regions. One of the components of the project is the preparation of the Big Baku development.
Construction of a water-inlet unit in the Shamakha region currently nears completion in line with the project's schedule. In addition, tender procedure relating to rehabilitation of the rest of the water supply and sanitation system in this region is underway.
Similar works are being carried out in the Gabala region. Nevertheless, tenders in the Saatly and Sabirabad regions have not yet been completed. There were also contracts now concluded for the provision of consultative services for the preparation of a planned Big Baku development.
"As the works have not yet been completed, the period of implementation of the project is prolonged till the end of February 2013 compared to the initial completion date of January 2012," the Office said.
Thus, the first national water supply and sanitation system improvement project will be carried out in parallel with the second one, which should also end in late February 2013. The WB assigned $260 million for the second project valued at a total of $410 million.
Azerbaijan has been a member of the WB since 1992. In the period, the WB assigned approximately $2.9 million for the implementation of 43 projects.