Uzbekistan, Tashkent, June 7 / Trend D.Azizov /
The Saudi Fund for Development will allocate $30 million for reconstruction of the Uzbek national highway, Amr Bin Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, Governor, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), said at a meeting of the Uzbek-Saudi Joint Committee to monitor progress in implementing the agreement on cooperation in trade, economy, science and technology, culture, sports and youth affairs, in Tashkent.
The funds will be spent on construction and renovation of a four-lane road with an asphalt surface at the Samarkand - Gusar site, worth $100 million.
Tashkent hosted a meeting of members of the Arab Coordination Group (ACG) in March 2010. The meeting considered the question of the possibility of co-financing the Uzbek national highway construction project. Following the meeting, the Saudi Fund for Development, along with other members of the ACG, has expressed its willingness to consider financing the project.
Earlier, Uzbek President Islam Karimov approved a program on national road construction up to 2015. The program is worth $2.6 billion. Within the program, the construction of four areas of roads are planned to be constructed on the Beinau-Kungrad-Bukhara-Samarkand-Tashkent-Andijan, Bukhara-Alat, Bukhara-Karshi-Guzar-Termez and Samarkand-Guzar routes.
Under the program, 400 kilometers of four-lane cement concrete roads and 813 kilometers of four-lane asphalt roads are planned to be constructed, as well as 288 kilometers of two-lane asphalt roads. The program envisages construction of seven transport road junctions and 1,488 kilometers of bridges and underpasses.
The project will be financed by the Uzbek government for $1.68 billion of credit from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a credit line from China, the SCO member-states, and other international financial institutes.
The total length of Uzbek roads is 146,400 kilometers. About 20 international transport routes run through the country.