Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 2
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
The World Bank (WB) plans to provide Azerbaijan with additional funding to reconstruct the Baku-Shamakhi highway, WB's Baku office told Trend Nov. 30.
"A WB review mission led by the head of the project group Elizabeth Vang arrived in Baku Nov. 30," the office said. "The aim of the mission is to prepare the additional funding as part of the Third Road Project."
The WB representative office did not rule out the possibility of extending the project implementation term.
"According to the existing practice, along with an increase in funding for the project, a decision is usually taken to extend it," the office said. "The decision on prolongation of terms of this road project implementation will be taken on the basis of the current calculations."
The mission will stay in Baku till the end of the week.
The mission, headed by Wang, visited Baku in June, and reviewed the process of implementation of the Third Highway Project and expressed willingness to allocate additional funds. The increase in the project's cost is due to the growth in the volume of work within the project.
The work on reconstructing the Baku-Shamakhi highway is carried out as part of the project for reconstructing the main roads.
The Third Highway Project with the total cost of $356.15 million was approved in 2010. The project envisages reconstruction of Azerbaijan's main roads' network and transit corridors, as well as local roads reconstructed as part of the regional development strategy.
The project for reconstructing Baku-Shamakhi-Muganli road is aimed at turning it from two-lane into a four-lane highway.
The project's implementation will be completed in September 2016.
Azerbaijan became WB member in 1992.
The bank has allocated over $3.739 billion worth loans to Azerbaijan as of Jan.1, 2015. These funds were used for financing over 60 projects. Aside from loans, the WB has allocated 45 grants totaling $41.586 million to Azerbaijan from 1995 to 2014.
Edited by SI
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