ADB, Tajikistan sign USD 237.5 million grants

DUSHANBE: The Government of Tajikistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in December 2020 signed four grant agreements for a total of $237.49 million to help Tajikistan improve the financial sustainability of the power sector, enhance the safety and reliability of the national road network, improve an irrigation system, and strengthen the financial sector and fiscal management in the country, ADB’s Tajikistan Resident Mission said on January 6.
The $105 million power sector development grant program will accelerate the implementation of ongoing energy sector reforms, enhance retail electricity metering and low- and medium-voltage distribution networks in seven cities, and promote gender equality in the power sector in Tajikistan.
The $67.49 million road network sustainability grant project will rehabilitate two existing national road sections in the Khatlon Region: from Dangara to Okmazor (28.7 km) and from Hulbuk to Kangurt (59.5 km). The project will also help the Ministry of Transport operationalize a road asset management system and promote the economic participation of women in the project area.
The $15 million additional financing grant project will improve water resources management in the Pyanj River basin in Tajikistan. The grant will finance the construction of a sediment excluding basin in the Chubek irrigation system in the southern part of the country.
The $50 million policy-based financial sector and fiscal management improvement grant program supports government-led reforms to increase private sector confidence in and strengthen the financial sector, combined with improvements in fiscal management, which will help increase private investment. ADB on 22 December disbursed this grant to the country in a single tranche. –Agencies