New financing totaling US$ 158.85 million was approved at the 129th Session of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) held recently in Vienna, Austria. The financial facility will support ten projects in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, in the agriculture, education, energy, water supply and sewerage and transportation sectors, the UAE news agency "WAM" reported. OFID Director-General, Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, remarked that the newly-approved financing would target sectors that OFID considered highly relevant for combating poverty in its partner countries. The bulk of the loans would support projects in the energy and transportation sectors, which would not only help boost socio-economic development among the beneficiary countries, but would also "assist in easing isolation and enable resource-poor communities to access basic services that many of us in the developed world take for granted." The 10 public sector loans comprise: -- Azerbaijan, Janub Power Plant, US$ 29.60 million. -- Benin, Kandi-Segbana-Nigeria Border Road, $11.00 million -- Burundi, Ntamba-Ndora Road $8.00 million. -- Central African Republic, Commodity Import Program, $9.30 million. -- Jamaica, Eastern Jamaica Rural Roads Rehabilitation, $10.00 million. -- Kenya, Dundori Olkalou Njabini Road (Supplementary Loan), $10.00 million. -- Morocco, Rural Roads Rehabilitation and Construction - Phase II, $30.00 million. -- Sri Lanka, Kalu Ganga Development $16.00 million. -- Tanzania, Same Water Supply $12.00 million. -- Uganda, Vocational Education $22.95 million. --MORE
