Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The World Bank (WB) may allocate $200 million for reconstruction of regional roads in the south of Azerbaijan, Head of the bank's Baku office Larisa Leshchenko told Trend Agency on March 13.

"A regional roads' project is being prepared," she said. "Earlier, we were engaged in the main trunk roads. At present, we plan to reconstruct two sections of regional roads in the south of the country."

The World Bank is one of the most important organizations, cooperating with Azerbaijan which joined the bank in 1992. Official talks on 51 projects have been held since Azerbaijan joined the World Bank.

Loan agreements totaling $3.349.5 billion were signed to finance them. About $1.7 billion of the amount was allocated for the implementation of road projects. The largest loan worth $670 million was allocated for improvement of the railway infrastructure and in particular, the reconstruction of the track on the Baku-Boyuk Kesik border with Georgia section.

The World Bank also finances the modernization and rehabilitation of road sections of the existing East-West and North-South corridors, namely the Alat-Masalli third highway, rehabilitation of the Kurdamir-Ujar section of the Baku-Georgian border highway, rehabilitation of the Baku- Shamakhi road, reconstruction of the road from Tagiyev settlement to the Sahil settlement bypassing Baku, Hajigabul-Bahramtepe road and expansion of the Baku-Shamakhi/Muganli highway.

Besides providing consultations, finances, and investments, the World Bank also provides assistance to the state budget and its coordination, and continues to offer proposals regarding strengthening the independent activities of government organizations involved in the exploitation of oil resources.