Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development continues supporting municipalities in Tajikistan to improve people’s living conditions.

The bank will lend $2 million, and the EBRD’s Shareholder Special Fund is providing an equal grant of $2 million to the municipality-owned enterprise Khojagii Manziliyu Kommunali under a sovereign guarantee.

Technical cooperation for the project’s feasibility study was provided by the EBRD’s Early Transition Countries Fund for $355,000. The government of Austria will finance project implementation support for $600,000.

In addition, the project will also provide for a corporate development, stakeholder participation and a city support program for $440,000.

“The EBRD is committed to helping the country to alleviate the problem of bad sanitation, which is especially acute in smaller cities like Norak. Our work in Norak is part of our commitment to modernize municipal services in Tajikistan and in addition to extensive operations in water and waste water, we have now financed four solid waste projects. In total the EBRD and its donor partners have committed over US$ 154 million towards better municipal services in Tajikistan and have a pipeline of roughly the US$150 million in development for the sector,” Richard Jones, Head of the EBRD’s Resident Office in Tajikistan, said.

A new deal will allow the municipality of Norak, a city of 27,000, get a modern dumpsite, create a new landfill and purchase solid waste collection and transportation equipment.

Currently waste collection in the city is in a dire condition, marked by the lack of proper collection points and the rise of unsanitary dumping sites.

Since the beginning of its operations in Tajikistan, the EBRD has invested some $400 million into different sectors of the country’s economy, focusing on areas that improve people’s lives, such as public utilities and infrastructure.