The National Water and Electricity Company Limited is to received US$12 million, equivalent to more than D336 million, for a project to upstage the Kotu Power Station with a view to providing the population, particularly unconnected communities, with an “affordable and consistent” supply of electricity.
“At least 500,000 people will benefit from the upgraded Kotu
Power Station,” a statement issued on Monday by the governing board of OPEC
Fund for International Development (OFID), which provides funding for the
project, has said.
The multi-million dollar project, approved at the 139th
session of the governing board of OFID held in the Austrian capital Vienna, is
part of the 13 loans and grants totaling nearly US$66 million that the OFID
board has approved to cover development projects in agriculture, education,
energy, transportation and water supply sectors in over 34 countries six of
which are in Africa, including The Gambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and
Guinea.
According to the statement, a US$5 million loan will be
injected in a rice cultivation project in Masina in the DRC to help reduce
poverty and boost food security through the expansion of an irrigation network
and construction of agricultural infrastructure. The project will benefit close to 10 million
inhabitants near the capital of Kinshasa.
