ADB and Azerbaijan to sign an agreement for road project within month
Azerbaijan, Baku, March 14 /Trend A.Akhundov/
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects to sign a loan agreement under the third tranche of the multitranche package (Multitranche Financing Facility - MFF) for road projects in Azerbaijan (Road Network Development Program) within a month, ADB representative in Azerbaijan Ollie Noroyono told reporters on Thursday.
Noroyono said the government completes the internal procedures on preparation for signing.
"According to our expectations, the signing will take place within the month, but it all depends on the internal procedures of the government" Noroyono said.
The third tranche was approved to the amount of $200 million. These funds will be used to continue the construction of a four-speed rail line Masalli-Astara.
Allocating the fourth tranche of $44 million will be discussed in 2012. The road section has not been determined yet.
About $255.4 million of $500 million was allocated from the ADB multitranche package to construct the roads. The package was approved in August 2007.
The first tranche of $200 million has been allocated to construct the road Masalli-Astara, the second (55.4 million) to reconstruct the Ganja circle road. The bank plans to allocate an additional $200 million (third tranche) to the end of 2011 to continue the construction of the Masalli-Astara four-speed railway. Azerinsaatservis construction company was chosen to build the first section of the road and the tender procedure is still underway on the other two sites (B and C).
Azerbaijan is a member of ADB since 1999. The ADB's active credit portfolio reaches $680 million. The ADB has allocated grants amounted to $13.122 million to the Azerbaijan government and local companies during the period of cooperation.
ADB was established in 1966 and has 67 members. The headquarters of the bank is located in the capital of the Philippines, Manila. Azerbaijan became a member of the Asian Development Bank on December 22, 1999. The country's participation share in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent.
Japan and the US (31.2 per cent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 percent), Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent) are the ADB leading shareholders.
