Pyidaungsu Hluttaw has accepted an interest-free loan from Italy worth €30 million to bring light in villages in the Chin State and some rural communities. The project will be implemented by Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
The €30 million soft loan aims to provide electricity in the form of solar home system and mini-grid system to the hardly accessible Chin State and some rural communities.
At the moment, only 41% of the population has access to electricity supplied by the state network. With this interest free loan, the mini-grids can be constructed and bring light to those remote communities where constructing national grid lines can be difficult. It provides the benefit to thousands of families residing in villages in Chin State and rural communities by constructing a small power grid through the use of solar panels to supply electricity.
The project will be systematically implemented with the procedure of selecting villages, developing committee, maintenance, quality assurance and tender with the advice from international experts and departmental officers. This agreement provides for a grace period of eighteen years. The repayment will start from fiscal year 2036-2037, three million euro will be paid every year, repaying the loan over a period of ten years. The project is part of national electrification project, contributing to the country’s ambitious goal of universal access to electricity by 2030.
