Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $50 million loan to fund Public Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.
ADB Principal Financial Sector Specialist Dongdong Zhang said PPP will emerge as an important tool to help Bangladesh recover from coronavirus pandemic. It will help leverage private sector resources to develop infrastructure and create jobs.
“The assistance will help strengthen government capacity to develop PPP infrastructure projects and catalyze greater private sector infrastructure investments,” he added.
This ADB loan will help implement PPP infrastructure subprojects developed by government agencies.
Additionally, the financial intermediary loan will strengthen the capacity of Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL), which has been established by the government to provide long-term local-currency debt financing to infrastructure projects.
ADB has been supporting BIFFL in promoting PPP programs and develop its pipeline of projects. It has also assisted the government develop PPP Act and an institutional framework for PPPs.
A $650,000 technical assistance grant from ADB’s Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund will support BIFFL to review and update its corporate strategy, as well as assess and improve capacity to manage environmental and social safeguards, and project implementation.
ADB, a regional development bank, was established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.
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