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Press Release
OFID Governing Board approves new loans and grants to benefit 28 countries
PR32/2011
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Vienna, Austria, December 21, 2011. The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), meeting in its 137th Session, has approved over US$160 million in new loans and grants to pursue socio-economic development in partner countries. The loans are as follows:
| Country | Project | Amount (US$mil.) |
| Bangladesh | Sikalbaha 225 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant Project. To improve access, reliability and quality of electrical power to households in the greater Chittagong area. |
30.00 |
| Ethiopia | Gode - Kebridehar 132 kV Power Transmission. To expand the country’s national grid and provide electricity connection to 34 towns and villages. |
15.00 |
| Honduras | Southern Region Sustainable Rural Development. To support a rural poverty reduction program that will benefit some 40,000 families. |
10.00 |
| Nepal | Rural Connectivity and Community Development. To improve transport infrastructure that will boost connectivity and access to social services and jobs, benefiting around 1.5 million people. |
20.00 |
| Nicaragua | National Program for Sustainable & Renewable Energy, 2nd Loan. To provide some two million Nicaraguans with connections to the country’s electricity distribution network. |
12.00 |
| Niger | Arlit - Assamaka Road. To construct a 223 km-long road to help reduce isolation of remote, rural communities and boost access to marketplaces and social services. |
10.00 |
| Papua New Guinea | Rural Primary Health Services Delivery. To construct, renovate and equip two community health posts and eight health facilities in each of 16 districts participating in the project. |
9.00 |
| Rwanda | Rubengera - Gasiza Road. To build a 23.6 km-long road in the Western Province, thus enhancing access to social services, marketplaces and agricultural production zones for some 1.8 million people. |
10.00 |
| The Sudan | Upper Atbara Dam Complex. To help improve agricultural productivity and power generation, as well as reduce pollution in Kasal State. Enhanced water supplies will benefit some 160,000 farmers who rely on irrigated agriculture. |
30.00 |
| Togo | Adagali - Atakpamé Road. To boost economic growth through the rehabilitation of an 80 km-long road that passes through important agricultural areas in the Plateaux Region, populated by around 1.3 million inhabitants. |
10.00 |
| Total | 156.00 |
The six approved grants total US$4.5 million. One grant will help fund a United Nations Relief and Works Agency project that will reconstruct the Samakh School for Girls in the Nahr el-Bared Camp in Lebanon. Another will co-finance an OFID/UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) initiative Comprehensive Education Sector Responses to HIV/AIDS in West and Central Africa. Support will also be extended to Hilfswerk Austria International to strengthen food security of 600 rural families residing in 50 villages in Senegal. The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership will receive a grant aimed at providing sustainable and affordable energy sources in Cambodia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Also receiving support is an IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) program that will set up small-scale solar energy plants in São Tomé and Principe and Ghana. A grant to the Solar Electric Light Fund will provide electricity to some 104,000 residents in 44 villages in northeast Benin.
Since its inception, OFID has committed over US$13.5 billion in much-needed concessional development financing to 130 developing countries around the world, with priority given to the poorest amongst them.
