$112m AIIB loan finances increase to electricity access in Nepal
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has agreed a $112.3 million loan to Nepal to increase access and improve the quality and efficiency of electricity supply across the country’s western regions.
The Distribution System Upgrade and Expansion Project covers 13 districts in Provinces 5 and 6 (Karnali Pradesh) and will include the construction of 21 primary substations and over 2,000km of supply lines. The project will strengthen the capacity of Nepal’s Electricity Authority to plan, analyse and modernise the network performance of the project.
The project is AIIB’s first sovereign-backed financing project in Nepal.
It is also the first project approved, of which AIIB’s technical assistance under the Special Fund has supported compressive project preparation from the very early stage. In 2018, Nepal received a $1 million grant under AIIB’s Special Fund to assist the government to prepare the electrification program in western Nepal, in terms of feasibility study, technical design, and environmental and social management.
