Shymkent-Tashkent Road

repaying

The EBRD is considering providing a sovereign loan to the Government of Kazakhstan for reconstruction and upgrading of the road section (62 km) connecting the city of Shymkent and the Uzbek border. The remaining road section (37 km) will be financed by ADB. The project is part of the upgrading the South-West international transport corridor linking Europe with China. Once upgraded, this road will help to accelerate development of regional trade by facilitating the transit of goods and passengers from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to Kazakhstan, Russia and Western Europe. The transition objectives of the Project are: (i) increasing progressively the role of the private sector in both routine maintenance and the engineering supervision of works (ii) a comprehensive review and update of highway technical standards and (iii) increasing efficiency of the road sector administration including through institutional restructuring as appropriate. The loan to be provided to the Government of Kazakhstan. The Project will be implemented by the Road Committee which is a department within the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC). A sovereign loan of up to USD 197 million, including up to USD 61 million of loan savings to be re-allocated from previous road rehabilitation project in Kazakhstan. USD 378.2 million. The Project has been categorised B under the EBRD Environmental and Social Policy as the potential impacts are expected to be site specific, readily identified and addressed through mitigation measures. An initial site visit has been carried out by the Independent Engineer to collect further information on the project and in particular, to seek to confirm the land acquisition needs and possible impacts on local people, property and businesses. Independent consultants have started the environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) for the project, which will cover the entire project to ensure consistency with EBRD requirements. As part of the ESDD, the consultants will review any existing environmental and other relevant studies on the proposed project, the investment plans with respect to environmental, social, health and safety and labour issues.. Contracts and contractor management arrangements will be reviewed together with the Client’s environmental and social track record on previous projects to assess the Client's capacity to implement the project in accordance the Bank's Performance Requirements. The consultants will also carry out an Environmental and Social Analysis that identifies and provides qualitative and, where possible, quantitative assessment of the potential environmental and social (community) impacts associated with the proposed development as well as proposes mitigation measures to mitigate such impacts. The initial results of due diligence indicate that land acquisition will be needed, with some houses on a certain stretch being affected so a Resettlement Action Plan and Livelihood Restoration Framework will also be prepared. Based on the outcomes of the ESDD, an Environmental and Social Action Plan (“ESAP”) will be developed and agreed with the client. Also a Stakeholder Engagement Plan will be developed. This PSD will be updated once the ESDD for the project is completed to reflect the findings. Technical cooperation under consideration (loan funded):