OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2013. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting improvements to living conditions for the people of Tajikistan, where municipal services need urgent upgrading.

In Kurgan-Tyube, a city some 100 km south of the capital Dushanbe, more than 75,000 people can now look forward to a better quality of life. The city is in the province of Khatlon, one of the most populous and least developed in the country.  Currently waste collection is sporadic in the central city districts, but many suburbs have not seen any solid waste collection for years, and illegal dumps are springing up. With financing from the EBRD the city will buy new machinery for waste collection and transport, while the  waste collection points and the city’s landfill will be rehabilitated.

The EBRD is providing a USD 2 million state-guaranteed loan to the city of Kurgan-Tyube and the local branch of the state unitary enterprise KMK, which is responsible for public utilities management. The EU’s Investment Facility for Central Asia (IFCA) has also provided US\\$ 993,000 for the feasibility study, environmental impact assessment and project implementation support.

KMK Director, Alimurod Tagoimurodov, said: “We welcome the EBRD’s first investment in solid waste management with KMK and would like to express our gratitude to the Bank for its continued support of all our activities.”.

Said Ulf Hindstrom, Head of the EBRD’s Resident Office in Tajikistan: “By financing the investments in Kurgan-Tyube, the EBRD is continuing its successful work to modernise municipal services in Tajikistan. In total, including this project, the EBRD and its donor partners have committed over USD 100 million towards better municipal services in Tajikistan.”

Since the beginning of its operations in Tajikistan, the EBRD has invested some USD 400 million into different sectors of the country’s economy, focusing on areas that improve people’s lives, such as public utilities and infrastructure.