Pretoria - The New Development Bank (NDB) has approved its first set of loans worth US $811 million, which will go towards supporting renewable energy initiatives.
“The NDB announced today that its Board of Directors has approved its first set of loans involving financial assistance of USD 811 million to be disbursed in tranches, supporting 2 370 MW of renewable energy capacity,” the bank said in a statement on Friday.
The NDB, which was established by BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects, said the appraised projects were presented at the fifth Board of Directors’ meeting in Washington on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Spring Meetings.
“This is an important milestone for the bank and we are delighted to have met the goals and the time schedules envisioned by the leaders of the BRICS countries. With this, we embark on a journey to provide speedy assistance to projects across developing nations.
“We are pleased that the projects deal with green and renewable energy and hope they will act as catalysts for development in our member states,” said the bank’s president KV Kamath.
In accordance with its core focus, this first set of projects being financed by NDB is in the area of green and renewable energy. It is estimated that the projects will collectively provide additional generation capacity of 2 370 MW of clean energy. This will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by nearly four million tonnes per year.
Each loan modality is different, based on project specific features and borrower preferences. Government approvals, where necessary, will be sought as part of follow-up procedures. – SAnews.gov.za
