EIB and Pakistan will sign a cooperation agreement of €100 million loan for the financing of a power project in the South Asian country, according to a statement by the EU office in Islamabad.
On 14 February, the EU delegation to Pakistan announced that the Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Magdalena Alverez Arza will visit Pakistan on February 15-18 and sign the cooperation agreement with the government of Pakistan.
The EIB loan will finance a 128 MW Keyal Khwar Hydropower Project. The Keyal Khwar Project will be built in the Dasu district and it is scheduled to be completed in four years and will provide 418 million units of low- cost hydel electricity to the national grid and support the deployment of renewable energy in Pakistan. According to the statement, it will also benefit local residents through improved transportation and employment opportunities.
The energy project is supported by EIB in cooperation with the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). EIB and KfW are providing €100 million and €97 million respectively for construction of the hydropower project, whose total cost is €240 million.
The EU delegation to Pakistan, stressed that the EIB and Pakistan relations are deepening as this is the fifth project supported by the European Bank in the country. Since the start of lending in Asia in 1993, the EIB has provided more than €5.1 billion for long-term investment projects, including €2.4 billion in the energy sector.
The statement concludes saying that EIB and Pakistan are exploring ways to cooperate for the financing of additional renewable energy projects in the country.