EDB could issue $100 mln loan to Armenia in 2014 to build North-South road corridor
YEREVAN. March 7 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) could issue a loan for $100 million to Armenia for the construction of the North-South highway, the bank said in a statement.
The project's feasibility study will be prepared at the end of April this year, the statement cites representatives from the Armenian government as saying.
The $100 million loan will be issued by the bank in its capacity as manager of the Eurasian Economic Community's (EurAsEC) Anti-Crisis Fund (ACF).
The EDB said that financing could begin as early as 2014 if the ACF council gives its final approval of the project, which is set to occur in June.
The EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund approved the blueprints for the project in June of 2013, as well as the respective preliminary application for ACF funding. These resolutions by the ACF council allowed preparation for the feasibility study to begin, the EDB said.
The North-South transportation corridor joins Central Asia and India with Iran, Georgia, Russia and Europe. Extending across Armenia from south to north (Megri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan-Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra), the corridor is linked to the Georgian road network leading to Poti and Batumi ports on the Black Sea and farther into Russia, the CIS and the European Union. The North-South highway is also part of the Asian Highway Network (AH82), which connects Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
