NDB agrees loans worth $1.4bn for projects in South Africa, India, Russia
The New Development Bank (NDB) has approved four infrastructure and sustainable development projects with loans aggregating to about $1.4 billion, bringing the bank’s portfolio to 42 projects with loans aggregating to $11.6 billion.
The projects are:
South African National Toll Roads Strengthening and Improvement Programme:
The board approved a loan of ZAR7 billion guaranteed by the government of South Africa to South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited for National Toll Roads Strengthening and Improvement Programme.
The project is designed to improve key national roads in South Africa with the objective of reducing transportation costs in the country. The scope of the project includes rehabilitation of the pavement for the existing toll sections of national roads, construction of additional lanes to widen such roads, and rehabilitation of related infrastructure, such as bridges and intersections.
Renewable Energy Sector Development in Russia Project
The bank agreed a $300 million loan to Eurasian Development Bank for Renewable Energy Sector Development in Russia.
The objective of the project is to facilitate investment in renewable energy generation plants that will contribute to Russia’s power generation mix in line with the country’s Energy Strategy 2030, and to avoidance of carbon dioxide emissions.
The proposed NDB loan will be used by EDB for on-lending to sub-projects using wind, solar, and small hydropower (less than 25MW) energy generation technologies.
Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Reconstruction Project and Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project
The NDB will provide two loans of $323 million each to India for on-lending to Government of Andhra Pradesh for the Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Reconstruction Project and the Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (APMCRCIP) respectively.
The two projects will address the road network issues in the state of Andhra Pradesh by widening roads and widening and reconstructing weak and narrow bridges to provide all-weather road network connectivity.
APRBRP comprises widening of about 1,600km of state highways from single/intermediate lanes to double lanes and reconstructing 269 bridges on the state highway network. APMCRCIP comprises widening of about 1,400km of district roads from single/intermediate lanes to double lanes and reconstructing 206 bridges on the district road network.
