AIIB reviews Uzbek water supply plant
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) made its concept decision on the $489 million Khorezm and Karakalpakstan water supply and sanitation brownfield project in western Uzbekistan this week, with an estimated financing approval date of April 2021.
The news comes after the DFI passed an initial review of the project, which has three components: water supply infrastructure; sewage infrastructure and capacity building and implementation. The implementing agency is the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services. The sovereign financing will be split between a $430 million AIIB loan and a $58.7 million loan from the government of Uzbekistan.
It emerged in October 2018 that the EBRD had signed to finance its first infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan in nearly 10 years, committing €333 million ($385 million) in loans to six projects in the capital city of Tashkent and three regions. That package included €53 million towards the rehabilitation of water and wastewater infrastructure in the Khorezm region. It is unclear if the AIIB and EBRD projects are linked.
