Ukraine signs agreement with World Bank on $560 mln loan for road development

An agreement on providing Ukraine with a $560 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank Group to finance the development of the road sector was signed on November 19.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the agreement was signed by World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Qimiao Fan and First Deputy Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Shulmeister.

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved the issue of the loan at the beginning of November this year.

According to the project, repair works to upgrade about 100 km of the M-03 Kyiv-Kharkiv road on the Poltava-Valky section will be funded.

"Modernization will take place under the standard of first category roads: it will be a highway with four lanes of traffic and a high level of security, including an emergency barrier in the center and, if necessary, barriers on both sides of the road," reads the document.

The project is to be completed in 2021. As a result of its implementation, travel time between Poltava and Kharkiv will be reduced from 140 minutes to 96 minutes with an expected drop in the number of accidents from 139 to 85 cases per year.

The loan will also help to provide funding for the maintenance and improvement of road safety on about 840 km of the main national transport corridors in the country.

Shulmeister earlier said that if the realization of the project is success, an additional $240 million is to be planned.