The African Development Bank Group approved $104 million in financing to the Ethiopian government for the financing of a transmission project to improve power supply in the eastern part of the country. The financing includes a $52 million grant from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional lending arm and a $52 million soft loan drawn from Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund under the Korea – Africa Energy Investment Framework Agreement. The agreement was signed in June 2021 between the African Development Bank and the Government of the Republic of Korea with the main objective of contributing to sustainable economic and social development and promoting economic cooperation in African member countries. Batchi Baldeh, the Director of Power Systems Development of the Bank, said the project would improve access to clean, reliable electricity supply by increasing the capacity of the power grid in eastern Ethiopia. The project will involve the construction of 157 kilometres of 400-kilovolt double-circuit transmission lines and associated substations at Harar, Jijiga and Fafem.

Source: Ethiopian News September 18, 2023 11:42 UTC