AfDB loan finances second phase of Madagascar power transmission project
The African Development Bank has approved a loan of $42.9 million to finance the second phase of a major power transmission and interconnection project in Madagascar.
The financing comprises a loan of $28.6 million from the African Development Fund, the concessional lending window of the bank; and a loan of $14.3 million from Pillar 1 of the Transition Support Facility, the bank’s financing mechanism for fragile and transition countries.
The Power Transmission Network Reinforcement and Interconnection Project in Madagascar includes the construction of a 135km, 220kV interconnection line between the capital Antananarivo and the central industrial city of Antsirabé. The project will help to feed the power generated by the Sahofika Hydropower Plant into the national grid, supplying some 8 million people with affordable, clean energy.
The second phase of the project also includes the electrification of 19 villages in the Soanindrariny, Ambohidranandriana, Ambatomena and Ambohimiarivo municipal councils of central Madagascar, a country which, despite having huge renewable energy potential, has an electricity access rate of only 15% nationally and 6% in rural areas.
