Azernews.Az

Thursday March 28 2024

World Bank to disburse extra funds for Azerbaijan railway project

23 September 2013 12:16 (UTC+04:00)
World Bank to disburse extra funds for Azerbaijan railway project

By Aynur Jafarova

The World Bank will allocate additional funds for the implementation of a project aimed at improving railway services in Azerbaijan, boosting trade and attracting transit cargo between Europe and Central Asia, the WB Baku office told Trend news agency.

An agreement on granting additional funds for the implementation of the Rail Trade and Transport Facilitation Project worth $220 million was signed on September 20 by the Azerbaijani government and the bank.

The loan agreement was signed by Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and WB Country Manager for Azerbaijan Larisa Leshchenko, and the project agreement was signed by Azerbaijani Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov and Larisa Leshchenko.

The WB Board of Executive Directors approved the allocation of additional financing in June 2013.

The project supports implementation of Azerbaijan's national railway development program.

Rail transport and transit services are important elements of Azerbaijan's economic diversification strategy with railway services producing revenues accounting for 5 percent of non-oil exports of the country in 2012.

Income in this sector was equal to five percent of non-oil exports in 2012. By investing in railway infrastructure and operations, Azerbaijan intends to attract an increasing volume of transit in the Central Asia and Black Sea region, thus benefiting from its geographical location as the shortest route between Central Asia and Europe.

The initial amount of the project's funding from the WB amounted to $450 million. Additional funding will be disbursed for the modernization of the railway signaling system for the East-West corridor from Baku to the Georgian border.

The WB investment portfolio in Azerbaijan includes 17 projects. Since Azerbaijan's joining the WB, 54 projects worth more than $3 billion have been financed by the bank.

Loading...
Latest See more