Khartoum implements 100 electricity and water grid projects through micro-finance
The Directorate General of Microfinance and Partnership with the Private Sector, Ministry of Finance, Economy and Investment, Khartoum State, completed the construction of some 100 projects for integrated electricity and water networks, through micro-finance, and exceeded the number of beneficiaries 55,000 families, at a cost of over 3.5 billion pounds.
The Director of the Department, Dr Yasser Mohamed Ahmed, in a press release yesterday, said that electricity and water grid projects targeted rural areas in the South, North and East of Khartoum State, and implemented about 92 power grid, along with 7 water grids over the past 5 years, and stating that the Department is currently implementing the two largest electricity grid projects, in the areas of Fatah Karri and East Nile, at a cost of 2 billion pounds.
“These projects are implemented through cooperative associations in these neighbourhoods, making use of micro-finance”, noting that the Department has established a pavilion at the Khartoum International Fair.
The representative of the Director General of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Khartoum State Abdelhadi Hassan Harun, stressed the importance of the mega projects accomplished by the General Directorate of Microfinance and Partnerships of the Ministry of Finance, and said that they were preparing (a pendant of honour in the Ministry’s good), stressing that its costs are worth billions of pounds, and securing the partnership between this Department and the private sector to provide the best services to the citizens of the State, stressing that the doors of the Ministry are legislated for all partnerships to further support beneficiaries in different regions of the State.
The Director of the Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Khartoum State, Hadi al-Aqab, explained that the Department has evolved since its inception with studies, to implement electricity and water grid projects and embarked on the implementation of the largest electricity projects.
The most significant challenge had come at the beginning of the provision of financing, moving to repayment, and the availability of meters had emerged, stressing that the problem had been detrimental to collection, whose operations had now stabilised, pointing out that management faced the challenge of rising exchange rates and inflation rates in the country.
The Director of Operations, Banks and Marketing Department of the Directorate General of Microfinance and Partnerships, Khadija Ismail, confirmed the Department’s participation since its inception in projects with a social dimension of the state, as well as the tight coordination with partners and stakeholders to implement water and electricity services for the state beneficiaries, and called for supporting policies to benefit from micro-finance services.
