Ethiopia has secured a $140 million soft loan from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
The loan agreement was signed on Thursday between Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian Finance Minister, and Khaled bin Sulaiman Alkhudairy, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Board of Directors of SFD.
It would be used for the construction of the 118-km Debre Marko-Mota road project at a cost of $75 million and implementation of One WaSH National Programme with the projected cost of $65 million.
Similarly, Ethiopia has signed agreement with the International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA POWER) for the Dicheto and Gad solar power projects.
The Public Private Partnership Board of Ethiopia last September picked the Saudi Arabia-headquartered ACWA POWER as the winner of the $300 million solar PV projects.
Dicheto and Gad solar power projects will be implemented in Afar and Somali regional states, respectively, and are expected to generate a total of 250MW solar energy, each with 125MW.
ACWA POWER was picked as winner out of the 12 short listed companies as it has offered 2.5260 US cents/kwh for both sites, which is the lowest solar power purchase tariff in Africa and one of the lowest globally.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed presided over the signing of two agreements held at the Prime Minister’s office.
MG/as/APA