CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Sultan bin Abdulrahman Al-Marshad signed a soft development loan agreement to finance a project to light the roads of Bangui, the capital of Central Africa with the use of solar energy, with Minister of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation of the Central African Republic Félix Moloua. The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, held in Washington, in the presence of several officials from the two sides. The agreement includes lighting 70 kilometers of the road network of Bangui through providing and installing lighting columns, solar energy panels, storage batteries, control devices and lighting bulbs. The project aims at lighting the road in Bangui with the use of solar energy as an environment friendly technology and for being a sustainable clean energy that guarantees lighting with the highest levels of efficiency, in addition to improving the level and quality of road safety and reducing deaths resulting from road accidents. The project is part of support that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through SFD, offers to the development process in Central Africa, where the fund, since 1985, has provided five development loans to finance five development projects with a total value of up to USD94 million in the transport, agriculture, health, education, energy and infrastructure sectors in a bid to contribute to the growth of Central Africa. SFD's is participating in the annual meetings as part of a Saudi delegation that will discuss the economic situation after the COVID-19 pandemic, food security crises facing the Middle East and North Africa, and combating climate change.
