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First phase of WBâ€™s Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project nears the end

15 March 2012 11:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AzRIP), implemented by the World Bank and the government, is nearing the completion, project manager on Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AzRIP-2), official of WBâ€™s Social Development Department Mr. Daniel Owen said during discussions with several NGOs, held in Baku in order to assess the work done with communities within the framework of the project.

Describing the project, Owen noted that the implementation of AZKÄ°L started in 2005 and covered six years. For implementation of the project, in 2005, the World Bank and Azerbaijan signed a loan agreement of 21.1 million dollars. The share of Azerbaijani Government in the project amounted to $1.335 million. World Bank has allocated additional funds to the Azerbaijani government to implement the second phase of the project, the amount of the loan allocated within AZKÄ°L was $30 million.

Besides, Owen noted that the second phase of the project would be completed by March 31 this year. However, despite this, AzRIP-2 will be continued.

Note that, at the initial stage AZKÄ°L covered 21 regions. After (at the expense of additional funds of WB), the number of regions was increased up to 34. Within the framework of the project exercises were conducted in 750 rural communities, grants for various amounts were allocated to 650 communities.