BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 13. Uzbekistan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed the accord on the establishment of the Uzbekistan Project Development Facility (UPDF) which will help develop public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the country, Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Managing Director for Central Asia, told Trend.
"Backed by a sovereign of up to 10 million euros provided by the EBRD, the UPDF will finance advisory services required for the preparation of selected PPP projects," she said.
Hargitai explained that the UPDF, managed by the EBRD, will help identify priority investments in sectors such as airport, road, water and wastewater infrastructure, public primary and secondary education, irrigation, district heating, and traffic management. "The facility will contribute towards the development of a $30 million pipeline of PPP projects identified as one of Uzbekistan’s key priorities by 2030".
Thus, the EBRD is currently advising the government of Uzbekistan on the development of several PPP projects, which will become part of this pipeline. Those include the Tashkent-Samarkand toll road, which involves the construction of nearly 330 km of motorway between Uzbekistan’s two major cities, as well as the establishment of student accommodation in Tashkent, which will cover the construction of 17 dormitories, which will host up to 18,000 university students in Tashkent.
At the same time, another PPP project includes the establishment of general education schools for up to 20,000 pupils in the densely populated Fergana and Namangan regions of Uzbekistan
"PPPs can mobilize commercial financing and can generally access additional funding sources beyond traditional government budgets. They also allow the transfer of significant risks related to the construction and operation of the assets to the private sector. With decades of relevant experience, the EBRD is the right partner for the country to find the right PPP projects, structure them, and bring them to fruition," Hargitai added.
