Kazakhstan gets loans to construct power grids
The China Development Bank, a policy bank, will provide loans to Kazakhstan
to build power grids, an official from Kazakhstan said yesterday.
"An agreement on the loans will soon be signed," Mukhamediyev Saken, general
representative of Kazakhstan's Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, told
China Daily on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO)
Industry and Business Forum.
"The power grids to be built in Kazakhstan will transmit power to China," he
said. He did not disclose any further details.
At the forum, the Export and Import Bank of China signed a US$296 million
loan agreement with the Finance Ministry of Tajikistan on building and
renovating a highway connecting Tajikistan's capital city Dushanbe with
Uzbekistan.
The highway, stretching 355 kilometres, is the largest road construction
project in Tajikistan and also the largest joint infrastructure project since
the founding of the SCO in 2001.
The highway project is one of the US$900 million worth of lending commitments
China made in 2004 to the other five member states.
The two sides also signed a loan agreement for 220-kilovolt power
transmission lines, another project in the US$900 million package.
Also yesterday, Tebian Electric Apparatus Co Ltd from Northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region signed a contract with Tajikistan's State Power
Holding Co on 500-kilovolt south-north high-voltage power transmission lines.
Transport, power, telecommunications and energy are major areas for SCO
member states to seek co-operation, business people attending the forum said.
Road transport, a major means of traffic for the six neighbouring countries,
will be a priority for the SCO, Feng Yulin, vice-minister of communications,
said at the forum.
China is putting money into building 12 highways leading to the other five
states, Feng said, adding that five are now under construction, stretching to a
total length of 5,200 kilometres.
