ZCZC
BSS-06
WB-ASSISTANCE-AGREEMENT
WB to provide $55-m for country’s renewable energy
DHAKA, May 30, 2018 (BSS) – The government today signed a $55 million
financing agreement with the World Bank to expand renewable energy uses in
rural areas.
The additional financing for the Second Rural Electrification and
Renewable Energy Development (RERED II) Project will install 1,000 solar
irrigation pumps, 30 solar mini-grids, and about 4 million improved cook
stoves in rural areas.
The agreement was inked by Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary
Kazi Shofiqul Azam and World Bank Country Director Qimiao Fan on behalf of
their respective sides at the ERD in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
The credits will come from the International Development Association, the
World Bank’s concessional lending arm, which provides grants or zero-interest
loans. The credits have a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period,
and a service charge of 0.75 percent.
Since 2003, the World Bank has been helping Bangladesh to expand solar-
powered electricity in remote and rural areas. Today, the country has one of
the world’s largest domestic solar power programs, covering 14 percent of the
population.
ERD Secretary Azam said the government targets to bring households under
100 percent coverage of improved cookstove by 2030.
“The additional financing will be important to ensure that every rural
household has an improved cookstove.” he added.
“Since 2003, the World Bank has been helping Bangladesh to improve access
to electricity through renewable energy. Following a successful demand-driven
public-private partnership programme, Bangladesh installed 4.2 million solar
home systems,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh,
Bhutan, and Nepal.
“This additional financing will help scale up use of clean and renewable
energy such as solar irrigation pumps and solar mini-grids, which will help
reduce poverty, improve the environment, create jobs, and open up new
opportunities for rural people.” He added.
With an additional $20 million support from the Green Climate Fund, the
project will scale up the use of improved cookstoves, which emit 90 percent
less carbon monoxide and takes half firewood compare to traditional
cookstove. These interventions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
indoor air pollution.
BSS/ASG/GM/GMR/1306 hrs