The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched an initiative to develop a concept for a fundamentally new approach to implementing potential border crossing point (BCP) projects, Report informs via ADB.
The bank is exploring the possibility of providing technical assistance under the Developing New Generation Border Crossing Points for CAREC Countries project.
Project participants include Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The total technical assistance is estimated at $1 million. Funds are expected to be drawn from ADB's Technical Assistance Special Fund.
The technical assistance is designed to help ADB and its developing member countries, primarily CAREC countries, upgrade border crossing points using innovative and environmentally sustainable solutions. The project will utilize CAREC as a platform for BCP project preparation through the BUILD mechanism, which is designed to finance a series of compact, individual projects along transport corridors. The technical assistance tasks include preparing project documentation for three priority areas, developing a new project implementation methodology through BUILD, and training specialists from participating countries in the operation and management of border crossing points.
Since 2010, ADB has been annually monitoring the time and cost of road and rail freight transport along CAREC corridors through a corridor performance tracking system. The system's data indicate that border crossing points in the CAREC region remain key bottlenecks for cross-border transport and logistics.
Factors negatively impacting the efficiency of the CAREC transport network and increasing trade costs include: insufficient institutional coordination between national transport agencies and border management agencies (BMAs) both within individual countries and with neighboring countries; obsolete infrastructure and equipment; systematic or temporary closure of border crossing points; Ineffective and duplicative customs, immigration, sanitary and phytosanitary control, and security inspection procedures; and a lack of private investment to attract additional financing.
ADB has previously financed and analyzed individual BCP projects, achieving significant results. However, upgrading each individual point individually proves operationally impractical for a number of reasons: the relatively small scale and remoteness of the facilities, the need to prepare standard documentation for each, the involvement of various consulting firms for similar tasks, and comparable transaction costs and preparation times even with small financing amounts. This technical assistance, together with the BUILD facility, will streamline ADB's internal procedures, ensuring faster and more cost-effective implementation of small projects in the CAREC region.
Azerbaijan has been a member of ADB since 1999. During this period, the bank has invested approximately $5.6 billion in the country, including $4.4 billion in the public sector and $1.2 billion in the private sector. The largest financing areas are transport ($1.5 billion) and energy ($1.7 billion).
As part of the new partnership strategy, ADB is prepared to invest up to $2.5 billion in Azerbaijan.
ADB was established in 1966 and is headquartered in Manila. It comprises 69 member countries, 50 of which are from the Asia-Pacific region.