Italy will lend €30 million to Myanmar for solar panels to light up rural residential areas in Chin State, said U Tun Lwin, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI).
“We will use the funds to implement electrification projects in Chin state,” he said.
The loan agreement was signed between Italian Ambassador to Myanmar Ms. Alessandra Schiavo and U Khant Zaw, director general of Department of Rural Development in Nay Pyi Taw on April 30.
The department had been carrying out electrification projects in villages not connected to the grid via a US$90 million loan from the World Bank. The Italian funds will be added to this amount.
“We have started implementation under the World Bank’s loan. For the electrification of Chin State, the Italian loan will also be utilised,” he added.
Approved in August 2018, the interest-free loan comes with a grace period of 18 years, with repayments starting in 2037. The repayment period is 10 years.
The funds will supply solar power to around 100,000 households in Chin State.
The government is currently carrying out its National Electrification Plan to electrify the whole country by 2030 using US$400 million in funds from the World Bank in 2016-17. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy will utilise $310million, or around 78pc of the funds, for grid areas while the Department of Rural Development will utilise the remaining $90million for the off-grid areas.
Until 2018, the department had supplied solar systems to more than 200,000 households from 4119 villages and about 350,000 public buildings. It is expected to provide home solar systems to more than 2400 villages and small-scale power systems to 100 villages this year.
Therefore, it can electrify more than 25pc of households in off-grid areas by the end of this fiscal year, said Union Minister U Aung Thu at the signing ceremony.
