OPEC to grant $50m in loans for water projects

OPEC to grant $50m in loans for water projects

CUBA STANDARD — The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) will
grant close to $50 million in loans for water rehabilitation projects in
Cuba over the next two years, official daily Granma reported.

The announcement came after a meeting in Havana by OFID General Director
Suleiman J. Al-Herbish with First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Al-Herbish also met with Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's point man for
strategic economic relations, as well as with the ministers of
agriculture and foreign trade and investment, and the head of the
National Water Resources Institute (INRH).

The new OFID loans will amount to close to $50 million and are linked to
Cuba's ongoing water infrastructure rehabilitation program, according to
Granma.

"I am here not only to show that I fulfilled the commitment OFID made a
decade ago with Fidel Castro, but also to ratify that we will continue
to work," Al-Herbish said, according to the newspaper.

OFID has provided $128 million in low-interest loans since 2002, for 53
water, 43 agriculture, and 32 power grid projects. Eight of those
projects, including Phase 3 of the rehabilitation of Havana's power
grid, are ongoing.

Last year, OFID granted a $20 million loan for the rehabilitation of the
water supply and sewage system in the city of Guantánamo, a $62 million
project.

In an interview with Granma, Al Herbish-said the OFID program has helped
Cuba obtain loans from Arab nations. Saudi Arabia last year provided a
$30 million loan for the rehabilitation of the water network in Havana;
two years ago, Kuwait granted $25 million in loans for similar projects
in Santiago and Holguín.

OFID provides low-interest loans throughout the developing world, mainly
aimed at energy projects.

Source: OPEC to grant $50m in loans for water projects « Cuba Standard,
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http://www.cubastandard.com/2014/04/21/opec-to-grant-50m-in-loans-for-water-projects/