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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
AFD supports housing, energy sectors in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement, AFD) has supported the reconstruction of 18,500 houses in the areas impacted by the 2005 earthquake, a press released issued on Tuesday said.
The AFD opened in 2007 in Islamabad upon request of the Pakistani authorities and its mandate is focused on “Green Energy”: improving the energy efficiency, and promoting renewable energy through hydropower.
The AFD supports the rehabilitation of Jabban hydropower project in Malakand, and is working on other hydropower projects in Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
It is supporting FATA with a grant in the health sector, in co-financing with Germany and is also supporting capacity building for the hydropower sector in Pakistan, jointly with WAPDA and HEB.
In the near future, the AFD’s expected funding in promoting hydropower in Pakistan should reach about 240 million euros, contributing to an additional installed capacity of 221MW.
The AFD, a specialised financial institution, and Proparco, a subsidiary under state control dedicated to financing private operators, form together the AFD Group.
Proparco has financed three projects in Pakistan, mostly in the energy sector. Proparco is part of the first private hydropower project in Pakistan, New Bong Escape, implemented by the Laraib Company. The agency was created in December 1941.
The AFD Group is a public entity for French bilateral cooperation, working under the aegis of two main line ministries: Foreign Affairs and Economic and Finance. It is a development-dedicated finance and aid organisation that implements French aid policies, with different financial tools from grants to loans and guarantees. It has today 68 regional and national offices for 105 countries, and around 1,700 employees out of which 900 in the headquarters in Paris.
AFD Group has approved 6.8 billion euros of funding worldwide in 2010 – twice the amount provided in 2007. More than one third is aimed at infrastructures and urban development.
In total, the AFD Group has invested a total of 201 million euros in Pakistan since 2006 (156 million euros from AFD plus 45 million euros from Proparco). pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk