WB develops report on evaluation of projects in Azerbaijan

The World Bank (WB) evaluated the portfolio of projects implemented in Azerbaijan and developed a single report on their current state, WB Baku Office head Joseph Owen said at a meeting with the heads of project teams.

WB Regional Director for South Caucasus Asad Alam has arrived in the country to this end. The Bank last time reviewed its portfolio two years ago.

Owen said Azerbaijan is a member of the World Bank since 1992.To date, Bank has allocated to Azerbaijan $ 2.9 billion in funding of 43 projects, due to which the country yield only to Turkey and Kazakhstan. The Bank's current portfolio in Azerbaijan makes up 20 projects worth $2.3 billion covering investments in transport, water and sanitation, agriculture and irrigation and health and education.

"One of the bank's notable contributions in Azerbaijan is investments in the road projects," he said

Since 2001, he said, 300 kilometers of roads were repaired as a part of the road projects and it is planned to reconstruct more than 300 kilometers in the coming years. Projects in the area of water supply and water system improving are also important, he said.

"Realization of two projects in this area helped to improve water supply in 12 regions, while feasibility studies were prepared for the remaining areas," Mr. Owen said. Currently, two projects on water and sewer services, which cover 43 regions in general, are underway.
As a part of the irrigation projects, there have been improved irrigation system on 60,000 hectares, and 60,000 hectares are expected to be improved under the second irrigation project.

Some 180,000 small communities benefited from the project "Azeri rural investment" (AzRIP) implemented since 2004.

"The WB pays a great attention to improving human capital, so the realization of projects in education and health is important," he added.


/Trend/