Azerbaijan, Baku, June 28 / Trend E. Aliyev /
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved the allocation of additional funding for the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project in Baku, to the sum of $47.1 million at a meeting held on Thursday in Washington, the World Bank's report released on its website, said.
According to the World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus Henry Kerali the project has achieved impressive results.
"About 80 percent of the unofficial dump sites were closed in Baku and the number of the population served by the official waste management system increased by 15 per cent," Kerali said.
According to the World Bank's estimates, 1.8 million tons of solid waste is generated in Greater Baku annually. The bank's specialists suppose that this figure will double in the next 20 years due to demographic growth and increased incomes of the agglomeration's population.
The project was first approved by the World Bank board of directors in June 2008. Its implementation began in 2009. The total project cost was $ 41.5 million, $ 29.5 million of which fell to the World Bank credit and the remainder was funded by the government of Azerbaijan.
The investment portfolio of the World Bank in Azerbaijan includes 17 projects. Since Azerbaijan's joining the World Bank, 54 projects worth more than $3 billion have been financed by the bank.