New Development Bank (NDB) has approved a loan of R7-billion, guaranteed by government, for the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) for strengthening and improving national toll roads.
“The project is designed to improve key national roads in South Africa, with the objective of reducing transportation costs in the country.
“The scope of the project includes rehabilitation of the pavement for the existing toll sections of national roads, the construction of additional lanes to widen such roads, and the rehabilitation of related infrastructure, including bridges and intersections,” the NDB stated in a release.
This was one of four loans, worth a collective $1.4-billion, approved by the NDB directors during a meeting earlier this month.
This brings the bank’s portfolio to 42 projects, with loan values totalling $11.6-billion.
The other newly approved loans include a $300-million loan to the Eurasian Development Bank for renewable energy sector development in Russia. The project aims to facilitate investment in renewable energy generation plants that will contribute to Russia’s power generation mix, in line with the country’s Energy Strategy 2030.
The proposed NDB loan will be used for on-lending to subprojects making use of wind, solar and hydropower energy generation technologies.
A further $646-million has been earmarked for India for on-lending to the Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Reconstruction Project and the Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project, respectively. Each project will receive a loan amount of $323-million.
These two projects are aimed at addressing road network issues in the State of Andhra Pradesh by widening roads and widening and rebuilding weak and narrow bridges to provide all-weather road network connectivity.
The NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects, complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.