Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
The transport sector plays a significant role in the Asian Development Bank's portfolio for Azerbaijan, the head of ADB office in Baku Olly Norojono said on Wednesday during a seminar on road safety.
According to him, the ADB's loan portfolio in Azerbaijan's transport sector exceeds $1.4 billion, or about 40 per cent of the bank's total portfolio for the country.
"We are involved in transport projects in Azerbaijan, so the issue of road safety is also very important for us," head of the ADB office said.
Road projects are funded by the Asian Development Bank as part of two investment programmes for the development of the road network each worth $500 million.
The first ADB multi-tranche package for road construction in Azerbaijan was approved in August 2007, and the second in October 2012. These funds are intended mainly for the construction of the Masalli-Astara road.
The Southern Corridor is the main transport artery of Azerbaijan. The existing Southern Corridor's road from Alyat to Astara (M3) is a 240 kilometre two-lane road. Today, the road is in poor condition resulting in high transport costs, long delays for the delivery of goods and traffic accidents. The road is very rough and is in need of major reconstruction.
Previous studies have shown that improving the situation requires a completely new four-lane road to minimise the problems that would cause the relocation of residents as a result of expanding the existing one.
Improvement of roads in the Southern Corridor will provide good road connections with Iran, increasing the capacity and promoting bilateral and transit trade, reduce the cost of transporting agricultural products to Baku markets and the travel time and cost of transportation for all road users in general and for the local population in particular.
Azerbaijan has been a member of the ADB since 1999.