The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) provides loan to Tajikistan for improvement of water resources management in its southern Khatlon province.
A loan agreement for 10 million U.S. dollars was singed on September 17 in Vienna between the Government of Tajikistan, represented by Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, Minister of Finance, and OFID represented by Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of OFID, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Secretariat.
The amount of this loan is allocated for co-financing the Improvement of Water Resources Management in Khatlon Project.
A total cost of the project is reportedly 53.5 million U.S. dollars, including 15 million U.S. dollars allocated by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), 25 million U.S. dollars allocated by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and 10 million U.S. dollars allocated by the OFID. Tajik government’s contribution to the project reportedly amounts to 3.5 million U.S. dollars.
The Project development objective is to improve the livelihood of the rural population, through improvement of water resources management with resilience to climate change impacts. The project is expected to result in increasing agriculture production by 110,000 tons per year; 2,000 new permanent, and 15,000 seasonal job opportunity will be created. 60,000 rural people will be provided with access to improved water supply. The project is reportedly expected to be implemented by 2025.
Meanwhile, Tajik national news agency Khovar reports that a loan agreement for 25 million U.S. dollars was singed between the Government of Tajikistan, represented by Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, Minister of Finance, and the Government of Saudi Arabia, represented by Yousef Bin Ibrahim Al-Bassam, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Fund for Development, on September 10, 2019. .
