The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of Uzbekistan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an agreement on the provision of consulting services for the construction of 17 student dormitories for 18,000 people, the press service of the Ministry of Higher Education said.

The signing of the agreement, which took place as part of the second International Economic Forum in Samarkand on Thursday, was attended by Deputy Head of the Ministry of Higher Education Sarvarkhan Buzrukhanov, Director of the Agency for the Development of Public-Private Partnerships under the Ministry of Finance Zakir Bozorov and Director of Sustainable Infrastructure Policy and Project Preparation at EBRD Matthew Jordan-Tank.

The cost of 17 dormitories is estimated at 115 million US dollars. The EBRD will assist Uzbekistan in finding investors for the construction of facilities.

According to the previously approved plan, in 2022 it is planned to build 47 dormitories for 18.8 thousand places, and by the end of 2025 - 228 for 91.2 thousand places. Contracts will awarded based on tenders.

The Ministry of Higher Education, acting as a state partner, is working with business partners to build dormitories. A business can count on a subsidy of up to 50% of the cost of a place in a dormitory. The maximum subsidy is 100 basic settlement unit (BSU) (27 million soums) per seat.

Deputy Finance Minister Odilbek Isakov reported in May that Uzbekistan planned to attract foreign investors to build dormitories as part of a public-private partnership from 2023. Now only local entrepreneurs participate in the projects, but they have a great demand for long-term loans.