ADB approves additional financing for Bishkek-Torugart road
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $15 million in additional financing for the reconstruction of the remaining 60-kilometer (km) section of the Bishkek-Torugart road.
The Bishkek-Torugart road is part of CAREC Corridor 1 connecting the Kyrgyz Republic and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The supplementary financing to CAREC Corridor 1 (Bishkek-Torugart Road) Project 3 will cover the cost overruns that have resulted in a funding gap for the project whose rationale remains valid and physical progress on-track.
By improving the last 60 km bottleneck, the reconstruction is expected to foster regional trade between the Kyrgyz Republic and the PRC and higher mobility for people in Naryn Province.
It will also help increase sustainability of the national road network by training local staff on infrastructure management.
The approximately 539 km Bishkek-Torugart road forms part of CAREC Corridor 1. The reconstruction project is endorsed under the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy.
The road, part of the old Silk Road that once linked Europe with what is now the PRC, is the shortest thoroughfare from Kashi, a vibrant cultural and trade center in the PRC, to consumer markets in northern Kyrgyz Republic and beyond.
It is also the only road that provides direct access to Lake Issyk Kul in the Kyrgyz Republic, one of Central Asia’s best-known tourist destinations.
However, costly, unreliable, and unsafe travel caused by poor road conditions has hampered social and economic development along the road corridor.