The Japan International Cooperation Agency signed official development assistance loan agreements with the governments of Kenya, Pakistan, Egypt and India. The loans either focus on the environment or the power sector.
The USD313 million ODA loan to Kenya will be used increase geothermal energy production. JICA said it the first Japanese assistance of its kind to help address climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
“In the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICADIV) in 2008, the Japanese government announced the policy for ‘promotion of the use of clean energy and improvement of energy access’ in Africa,” JICA said in a statement.
In Egypt, JICA hopes to see its USD412 million funding going to the expansion of wind technology. The Gulf of El Zayt region will be the site of the new 220-megawatt wind farm, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 494,000 tons yearly.
Part of the USD2.29 billion ODA loan to India seeks to protect biodiversity in Sikkim’s Himalayan region. The area, according to JICA, is home to one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots or regions that are “in critical danger of being destroyed.”
The USD244 million loan to Pakistan will fund the construction and expansion of high-voltage substations and transmission lines in Punjab and Sindh. The provinces host four-fifths of the country’s population.
