DUSHANBE, July 23, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- The World Bank and the Government of Tajikistan signed three grant agreements for a total amount of US$17.5 million in Dushanbe at the end of last week, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

            The source at a MoF said that a total amount of the first grant awarded for implementation of the “Tajikistan Emergency Food Security and Seed Imports” Project is $5 million.

 According to him, this project aims to increase domestic food production and reduce the loss of livestock to help an estimated 28,000 households in Tajikistan.  Agricultural production inputs and critical livestock-related inputs will be provided to the poorest farmers to support their immediate food security and recover their production losses. 

The “Tajikistan Emergency Food Security and Seed Imports” Project includes three components such as providing financial-technical assistance for needs of agriculture, improvement of health and conditions of keeping livestock and the project implementation management.   

The second grant agreement is on a US$6 million grant as additional financing to the Tajikistan Community and Basic Health Project.  The MoF source said that the Additional Financing to the Tajikistan Community and Basic Health Project will finance additional activities to support the Tajik government in improving the access to, and the quality of  health services, and building capacity and efficiency at national and selected local levels in administering the basic package of health benefits and per capita financing for primary health care.

The third grant agreement provides for providing $6.5 million in a form of grant to support rehabilitation of the country’s energy sector.  The funds will go to alleviating serious energy situation for improvement of energy independence, the MoF source said.  According to him, this project includes purchase of equipment and fuel for Barqi Tojik power holding and Tojikgaz (Tajik stte natural-gas distributor) as well as rehabilitation of heating system of Tajikcommunservice. 

The source noted that the projects are scheduled to be implemented in 2008-2010.   

We will recall that 17 investment project, sponsored by the World Bank, for a total amount of $279.3 million are currently being implemented in the country.  Contribution of Tajikistan to implementation of these projects is $19.3 million.