Belarus and the World Bank have agreed a $125 million draft loan agreement for a new energy-effectiveness project, BelTA learnt from representatives of the Energy Efficiency Department of the State Standardisation Committee of Belarus.
A teleconference connected the World Bank representative office in Belarus and the World Bank HQ in Washington. The Belarusian side was represented by the Energy Efficiency Department of the State Standardisation Committee, Belinvestenergosberezheniye enterprise, the Energy Ministry, the Economy Ministry, and the Finance Ministry.
The document will be forwarded for approval of the Board of Directors of the World Bank. After that Belarus and the World Bank are supposed to sign the agreement.
BelTA reported earlier, Belarus President decree No 121 of March 9 approved a draft loan agreement between Belarus and the World Bank as the basis for holding the negotiations. Chairman of the State Standardisation Committee Valery Koreshkov has been authorised to sign the agreement.
The $125 million World Bank loan will be used to assimilate energy-effective technologies at municipal boiler plants and at major power installations. The project envisages remodelling two installations of the Energy Ministry (retrofitting of regional boiler plants into cogeneration plans in Borisov and Mogilev) as well as four municipal installations, namely those in the town of Ruba (Vitebsk oblast), Oshmiany, Borisov, and Rechitsa.
The initiative was preceded by successful accomplishment of previous World Bank projects in Belarus. In particular, the modernisation of social infrastructure (the first loan totalled $22.6 million, the extra loan - $15 million) and rehabilitation of Chernobyl-affected areas ($50 million was borrowed).