Infrastructural devt: AfDB approves $20m for Nigeria

THE board of directors of the African Development Bank has approved a $20 million investment in the Metier Sustainable Capital International Fund II.

The fund channels resources to renewable energy and resource-efficient infrastructure projects in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries. The bank said its funding would contribute to production of an additional 178.5 megawatts of renewable power for commercial and residential use.

A statement by the bank said it would also create opportunities for industrial waste water treatment and waste-to-energy generation. The fund would meet the bank’s strict environment and safeguards standards to ensure potential risks are adequately mitigated.

The bank’s Acting Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change & Green Growth, Wale Shonibare, said, “Metier has extensive experience in developing and financing renewable energy projects with strong technical partners and co-developers in Southern Africa. “We are pleased to join other investors in supporting their expansion into new African markets to help unlock the vast renewable potential of the continent.”

He said the investment was part of the bank’s efforts to alleviate financing constraints in the renewable energy sector. Metier is a well-established fund manager with a track record of deploying more than $550m in African countries, including solar, wind and hydro power projects in Southern and East Africa, it stated.