OFID’s Governing Board approves over US$270m for operations in developing countries 19.09.2018 | E36/2018
(from left) Fuad Albassam, Assistant Director-General, Public Sector Operations; OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish; HE Abdulwahab A Al-Bader,
Governing Board Chairman; and Tarek Sherlala, Assistant Director-General, Dept of Financial Operations.
Vienna, Austria, September 19, 2018. The 164th Session of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has approved over US$270 million of new funding to benefit developing countries across the globe.
The public sector loans, which total approximately US$154 million, will support the following projects:
| Country
|
Project
|
Amount
US$mil
|
| Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Construction of Hrenovica-Gorazde Expressway and Hranjen Tunnel. To provide a more efficient and less expensive means of transport in a region where agriculture is a key sector. An estimated 900,000 people will benefit from the project (two loans of US$30m and €35m). |
71.00 |
| Burkina Faso |
Tougan-Ouahigouya Road. To upgrade a 94 km stretch of road to promote trade, improve links between production zones and the capital Ouagadougou, and enhance access to social services for around 250,000 people. |
19.00 |
| Malawi |
Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply and Sanitation. To improve health and living standards for circa 124,000 people by rehabilitating and expanding infrastructure for potable water. |
12.00 |
| Mozambique |
Angoche Fishing Port. To build a new port that will result in higher incomes for around 18,000 artisanal fishermen and enhance food security and socioeconomic development in the town of Angoche, Nampula province. |
12.00 |
| Sri Lanka |
Rehabilitation of the A017 Road Corridor (Rakwana – Suriyakanda). To repair an 18 km stretch of road in an area where lack of access to markets and social services hinders socioeconomic development. |
40.00 |
| |
|
|
| Total |
|
154.0 |
Other approvals included seven grants totaling more than US$4.5 million to the following organizations:
- Arab Organization for Agricultural Development. US$500,000. To boost food security and incomes in high-poverty rural households in the Darfur region through the construction/rehabilitation of water-harvesting and storage facilities, distribution of agriculture inputs and equipment, as well as capacity-building and outreach activities.
- Deutsche Welthungerhilfe. US$345,000. To provide rural energy solutions in low-coverage areas in the provinces of Nangarhar and Parwan, Afghanistan. This will help foster socio-economic development and directly benefit circa 22,600 people and 45 small businesses.
- Institut zur Cooperation bei Entwicklungs-Projekten (ICEP). US$800,000. To improve the quality of programs focusing on technical and entrepreneurial skills in nine vocational training centers in Kenya and Uganda. Beneficiaries include 116 teachers/trainers, 4,200 young people and 2,700 small entrepreneurs.
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. US$500,000. To enhance the resilience of host communities and improve living conditions of both local residents and refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, by providing safe and sustainable shelter and settlement solutions.
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. US$1 million. To expand access to sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services and promote hygiene in high cholera-risk districts of Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda. Activities will include rehabilitation and construction of water points and providing schools and households with improved latrines. Also planned are outreach/awareness raising and capacity-building programs, aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of about 115,000 people.
- Light for the World. US$500,000. To help prevent the transmission of trachoma and waterborne diseases commonly associated with poor sanitation and hygiene in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Water points and latrines will be built/repaired in 50 schools and outreach activities carried out to benefit at least 25,000 schoolchildren.
- Plan International. US$900,000. To deliver affordable and reliable modern energy in rural areas of Mali, Niger and Senegal by offering renewable energy services to over 4,650 women-led small- and medium-sized enterprises and 600 women’s savings-groups comprising around 21,000 members.
Under OFID’s private sector facility, US$42 million was approved to help enhance the energy sector in Bangladesh and support a financial institution in Cambodia to expand its lending activities to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. Under OFID’s trade finance operations, US$70 million was approved to help boost the garment production industry in Jordan and support international trade activities in Bangladesh and Georgia.