The Kazakh government signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Astana on 9 February, under which the ADB will loan Kazakhstan $34.6 million over 25 years for a rural drinking-water project. The project, which is being financed by Kazakhstan (about $21 million) and the Islamic Development Bank ($9.5 million) as well as by the ADB, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. More than 400 villages in Aqmola, North Kazakhstan, Karaganda, and South Kazakhstan oblasts will obtain new water and sewage systems. The government of Japan is providing an additional $350,000 to the project to train Kazakh specialists in maintaining and managing the new systems. (khabar.kz)