EBRD to Finance Road Reconstruction in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s state-owned road company KazAvtoZhol will receive a loan of $240 million for the reconstruction of the old highway between Kyzylorda and Zhezkazgan. The sovereign loan issuer is the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

As the bank’s press service reported the company is going to allocate that money for an overhaul of the old, 240-kilometer-long road between Kyzylorda and Zhezkazgan as well as the construction of a 14.8-kilometer-long belt road in Kyzylorda.

«The road will improve passenger and cargo transport along strategic route E123, which links western China with the Ural region of Russia,» the bank said in a statement.

According to EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, the improved connectivity will provide new opportunities both for Kazakhstan and Central Asia. 

«It is important for the country to create the right transport infrastructure to boost economic integration and post-Covid-19 recovery,» she said.

During the pandemic of 2020, EBRD invested $925 million in Kazakhstan including $440 million of additional funding. At the same time, about six thousand small- and mid-sized businesses in Kazakhstan had been receiving financial support last year through various partnership programs of the bank. The bank has also extended to 2025 its programs for small- and medium-sized business development and female entrepreneurs, implemented in conjunction with the government of Kazakhstan.

Moreover, EBRD has launched its $30 million Green Economy Financing Facilities initiative in the country. Together with the Ministry of Health, EBRD presented the project of a new hospital in Almaty with a capacity of 300 beds last year.

To date, the EBRD has invested more than $8.4 billion in Kazakhstan’s economy through 290 projects.