Azerbaijan, Baku, May 1 / Trend, I. Khalilova /
The World Bank (WB) and the Azerbaijani government began official negotiations on additional funding for an Integrated Solid Waste Management Project, the WB Baku office told Trend on Wednesday.
"The World Bank plans to allocate $47.1 million of the credit resources of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as additional funding, while the share belongıng to the government will hit about $8 million." The IBRD ıs part of the WB.
Negotiations will be completed by the end of this week. A protocol will be signed following them and will be presented to the WB Board of Directors. The loan will be approved by the WB Board of Directors on May 30.
Most of the additional funding will be allocated for the reconstruction of a solid waste landfill in Balakhani (component B), reimbursement of the additional costs for project management (component A), as well as work on technical preparations for future investments in this sector (component E).
The project closes on September 30, 2013, but ın order to complete work usıng the additional financing, a three year extensıon of the project until September 30, 2016 ıs required.
The project was approved by the Board of Directors of the World Bank in June 2008. Work started in 2009. The total project cost constitutes $41.5 million, including $ 29.5 million of WB credit. The rest ıs beıng funded by the government of Azerbaijan. The credit is beıng granted for a 20-year perıod.
The project covers the followıng areas: institutional reforms, capacity development and administration, the regulation and management of Balakhani solid waste landfill as well as the closing and management of some other junk yards, the purchase of equipment for solid waste collection and the preparation of an investment plan for the period after the completion of the project.