YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. On Wednesday, Armenian National Assembly ratified $18-million loan agreement with International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Under this agreement, the bank provides additional financing to Armenia for rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures.

The loan is extended for 25 years with 10-year grace period at up to 1.5%.

The program costs $21.6 million, of which $3.4 million will be provided by the government and $200,000 by the program beneficiaries.

“The additional funds will be spent for rehabilitation of about 50 kilometers of the core water pipeline in Ararat Valley and in Shirak and Lori provinces and 63 kilometers of internal systems in 19 communities,” Andranik Andreasyan, chairman of the State Water Committee, said presenting the agreement to lawmakers.

He said that this new program is based on calculations and projects which had been prepared under the United States’ Millennium Challenges Program completed this year.

Head of the World Bank’s Yerevan Office Jean-Michel Happi said earlier that the additional program would allow rehabilitate about 110 kilometres of the core and secondary water pipelines and would lessen expenses and restore water supply for 6,500 hectares.

World Bank expects that 88,000 farmers will benefit from the program, and that not only temporary, but also permanent jobs will be created thanks to this program.

The basic, $30-million program of rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures was approved by the World Bank in July 2009. The program was completed in late December 2010. About 90 kilometers of core water pipelines have been recovered and 12,000 temporary jobs have been created under this program.

The World Bank has lent $1.506 billion to Armenia since it started cooperating with the country in 1992.-0---