The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is eager to collaborate on the climate front with Bangladesh and other partners, providing funding for significant initiatives that have a positive and significant impact.
“We want to finance very impactful, very useful and very important projects with other private sector investors,” ADB Vice-President (Market Solutions) Bhargav Dasgupta told local media while responding to a question during an interaction on Friday.
Dasgupta, who took over the role on 4th December of last year, stated that they know there is a strong desire to diversify energy sources in Bangladesh.
“We are happy to see how we can partner with the government of Bangladesh and how we can work together,” he stated.
The main goals of ADB’s private sector operations are to promote the growth of important development objectives in Asia and the Pacific, unleash investments, and empower enterprises.
By offering our clients cutting-edge solutions, ADB works with a wide range of stakeholders to address important development issues like gender equality, food security, and climate change.
Dasgupta, who is responsible for the management of the operations of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department and Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnerships, said ADB has been one of the most “respected and trusted” partners for the governments in Asia’s developing countries.
According to the vice president of ADB, they have been participating fairly in the private sector, but they must expand and intensify that participation.
Speaking about the private sector’s involvement in Bangladesh, he mentioned that the ADB and Dynamic Sun Energy Private Limited last month inked a US $ 121.55 million financing agreement for the construction and operation of a 100 megawatt (MW) grid-connected solar photovoltaic power plant in Pabna, Bangladesh. The plant is the first utility-scale solar facility in the private sector in the nation to receive backing from international financiers.
As the only required lead arranger and book-runner, ADB arranged, structured, and syndicated the debt package.
The financing package comprises a US $ 46.75 million loan from ADB, a syndicated B-loan of US $ 28.05 million from ILX Fund I, an Amsterdam-based emerging market private credit fund focused on supporting the Sustainable Development Goals with ADB as lender of record, and a syndicated parallel loan of US $ 46.75 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
ADB Private Sector Operations Department Director General Suzanne Gaboury said, “As Asia’s climate bank, ADB welcomes the opportunity to support renewable energy in Bangladesh, where obtaining long-term financing for such projects is a challenge.
“This partnership exemplifies our lead role in mobilising financing for clean energy facilities and stimulating further investment in sectors where it’s needed the most.”
In addition to producing 193.5 gigawatt-hours of electricity yearly, the solar power plant will prevent 93,654 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere.