Signing of the agreement on allocation of the second credit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to the Azerbaijan State Railway (ASR) may take place this year. To this end, the issue of the state guarantees under this loan is to be settled, the EBRD spokesman in Azerbaijan Reymond Conway told Trend.
According to him, EBRD intends to allocate the loan for the amount of $50 million for the ASR locomotive unit development. Negotiations with the countrys government are currently underway, Conway noted.
EBRD is supposed to allocate the loan of $30 million for updating, rehabilitation, and renewal of the ASR locomotive stock for 15 years with the privileged first four years. The loan interest rate will be Libor +1%. ASR plans to receive $20 million more within the second stage. The funds will be spent for establishing two depots for the locomotives repair. Such credit was allocated to ASR in 1999 in the amount of $20,2 million under the same conditions. Its reimbursement is currently underway.
The locomotive park renewal is needed due to the annual growth of traffic through the TRACECA transport corridor and the future implementation of such projects as launching of the railway communication Kars-Ahalkalaki- Ybilisi-Baku and within the North-South transport corridor link.