ADB to provide $200m for rural electricity supply project

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide US$200 million funds, including $130 million concessional loans, to improve access to efficient and reliable electricity supply in rural areas of Bangladesh.

Fatima Yasmin, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Manmohan Parkash, Country Director, ADB, remotely signed the loan agreements on Tuesday.

The $200 million funds will be additional financing to the Rural Electrification Board (REB) for improving its transmission and distribution system.

The additional loans will scale up the ongoing $616 million Bangladesh Power System Enhancement and Efficiency Improvement Project, which ADB approved in 2017, the Manila-based lender said in a statement.

The additional $200 million loan will finance installation of an additional 990 kilometers (km) of 33kilovolt (kV) and 3,000 km of 11kV below distribution lines and associated facilities, including 51 units of 33kV/11kV substations in rural areas in Khulna division.

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