By Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar
JAKARTA, Feb 17 (NNN-Bernama) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$150 million loan to support Indonesia’s green infrastructure projects in order to help the country reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It will boost the development of sustainable infrastructure and accelerate the country’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by bringing in capital and creating jobs,” head of ADB’s Green and Innovative Finance for Southeast Asia, Anouj Mehta said in a statement on Wednesday.
The loan under the SDGs Indonesia One-Green Finance Facility, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will finance 10 projects, which 70 per cent allocated to green infrastructure and the rest for the SDGs.
The loan to the Indonesian government will be re-lent to PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, or PT SMI, a state-owned infrastructure financing institution, which will administer the facility.
ADB also approved technical assistance to help strengthen PT SMI’s ability to implement the facility and eventually broaden the firm’s services to support other borrowers and catalyse private funding.
The technical assistance is funded with US$1.2 million from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and US$375,000 from Luxembourg’s Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund.
— NNN-BERNAMA