KYIV. Nov 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – 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 will be signed on November 19, according to an announcement on the website of the Ukrainian government.
As reported, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved the issue of this 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 a travel time between Poltava and Kharkiv will be reduced from 140 minutes to 96 minutes with the expected decrease in the number of accidents from 139 to 85 cases per year.
The loan will also help provide funding for the maintenance and improvement of road safety on about 840 km of the main national transport corridors in the country.
