Business news

MINSK, 23 March (BelTA) – Belarus and the World Bank have agreed to implement a new comprehensive project in the utilities industry. The plans were discussed as Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Anatoly Kalinin met with World Bank Country Manager for Belarus Young Chul Kim, the press service of the Belarusian government told BelTA.

Belarus’ interaction with the World Bank in the utilities industry and transportation was discussed during the meeting. Anatoly Kalinin thanked the World Bank management for financial support. He mentioned the importance of consulting about the implementation of a number of joint projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister also said that Belarus honored all its commitments to the World Bank regarding the implementation of utilities industry projects in 2016. The final sums borrowed for developing water supply and water disposal systems were spent in December 2016. As many as 22 water supply and water disposal installations were commissioned over the course of the project’s implementation. The implementation of a comprehensive project for recycling solid waste will be finished in June 2017. An enterprise to mechanically sort 120,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year has been built in Grodno as part of the project. The acquisition of modern equipment and utility vehicles for improving the separate collection of solid municipal waste in the region is nearing completion. A similar waste processing enterprise will be built in Vitebsk in 2017-2018 using domestic investments.

Anatoly Kalinin and Young Chul Kim also discussed the spending of an additional loan granted by the World Bank to implement a water industry project. In particular, adding about 30 new water supply and water disposal installations to the project was mentioned.

Apart from that, the sides reached an agreement on starting preparing a comprehensive utilities industry project together. The project will involve waste recycling, water supply and water disposal, heating, and other components. The World Bank intends to invite credit and finance institutions of the European Union for implementing the project on co-financing terms. The institutions may include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank.

As far as a transport infrastructure project — the modernization of the M6 Minsk-Grodno transit corridor — is concerned, Anatoly Kalinin said that thanks to joint constructive work with the World Bank the Belarusian side had managed to promptly accomplish everything and start reconstructing the motorway several months ahead of schedule. “Construction workers are now working in two sections. The work pace inspires confidence that the project will be finished ahead of the schedule. The government regularly reviews the project’s implementation. Apart from that, a tender has been arranged to choose the contractor for reconstructing the third section of the motorway. The government has given instructions to finish reconstruction and commission the three sections of the motorway in 2018,” noted the Deputy Prime Minister.

The meeting also touched upon matters of cooperation as part of new infrastructure projects: the reconstruction of the M7 Minsk-Oshmyany motorway, road repairs at exits from Minsk towards Grodno and Gomel, the reconstruction of the M10 Gomel-Kobrin motorway on public private partnership terms. Anatoly Kalinin and Young Chul Kim also discussed the possibility of the World Bank and European financial institutions taking part in the implementation of transboundary projects initiated by Belarus in association with neighboring countries.