Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
By Ali Mustafayev - Trend:
Kazakhstan needs investments worth 1.3 trillion tenge to provide its villages with drinking water. One of the potential investors of the country’s water projects is Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“Recently, we discussed the possibility of launching a new project with the government of Kazakhstan to provide drinking water to the country's villages . We expect that due to this project, the current volume of water supply in rural areas of the country will increase more than fourfold,” said Giovanni Capannelli the Director of the Representative office of the Asian Development Bank in Kazakhstan, Kazakh media outlets reported.
He added that ADB is briefed that Kazakhstan currently needs 1.3 trillion tenge for the implementation of the water projects, and that the bank is ready to consider supporting this project, taking into account Kazakhstan's need to find a source of financing outside the budget.
ADB can provide concessional funds within sovereign borrowing on attractive terms, according to Capannelli.
“Taking into account the scale of investments and the impact of tariff increases, we suggest that the country's leadership considers a financing option with low costs and long-term benefits,” said Capannelli.
ADB has been working in Kazakhstan since 1994. In September 2016, ADB presented a new country partnership strategy with Kazakhstan. According to this strategy, ADB plans to invest about 1 trillion tenge by 2021 in agriculture, water, energy, rural and urban development, transport, health, education and financing of small and medium of enterprises.
(Exchange rate on 24.11.2017: $1 – 330 tenge)