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The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has approved a loan of $252.5 million for two important projects in Pakistan. The projects are intended to support the country’s green energy agenda as well as ongoing efforts to mitigate the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, IsDB president and chairman of the Board, gave his approval to the allocation of $180 million to help finance the strategic “Mohmand Dam and Hydropower Project” in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province.
Mohmand Dam, when completed, will be the world’s fifth-highest Concrete-Face-Rock-Filled Dam (CFRFD), adding 800 MW to the country’s installed hydropower potential.
It will also provide 2 million people in Peshawar with safe, clean drinking water while also boosting food security by supporting irrigation and agricultural activities on 6,773 hectares of new farmland.
“It is my pleasure to announce that the Board of Executive Directors of the Bank approved a $180m financing to contribute to this strategic, multi-purpose, green, renewable energy project,” IsDB president, Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser stated.
“We take pride in working alongside our partners from the Arab Coordination Group as well as other partners to see this great green project launched in due time. This is a testimony to the continuity of the strong partnership between IsDB and the government of Pakistan, in alignment with the country’s priorities and our own commitments to allocate more funding to climate-friendly projects.”
The country’s energy sector has absorbed the most IsDB Group development interventions to date, accounting for 68.4 percent (roughly $9.3 billion) of the Group’s investments.
Meanwhile, on December 13 of last year, the Islamic Development Bank approved $72.5 million in funding to help Pakistan’s nationwide vaccination efforts in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The country’s “IVAC Covid-19 Vaccine Support Project,” which is also co-funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, will receive $70 million from the IsDB, as well as $2.5 million from the IsDB’s Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, as a result of this approval (ISFD).
The money will help Pakistan reach its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the population aged 18 and up, including healthcare and frontline workers, as well as other priority groups.
This is part of the IsDB Group’s $4.56 billion Strategic Preparedness and Response Program (SPRP), which is aimed at assisting member countries with their health and economic recovery plans in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pakistan is a founder of the IsDB and the IsDB Group’s third-largest recipient of funding. The two countries’ development cooperation dates back to the 1970s when the first development project in Pakistan was approved on June 5, 1977.
