A Kyrgyz government official said the 12-year credit would be provided without guarantees from the Kyrgyz government. He added that Kyrgyzstan was only exploiting around 10% of its total hydroelectricity potential, so that the scope for developing hydro power in Kyrgyzstan is considerable.
The financing and construction of new plants will be decided separately for each project. In total, eight plants will be reconstructed and four new ones built, with a total of 86MW of new generating capacity to be installed.
This year will see the completion of the reconstruction of the 1.6MW Issyk-Atin hydro power plant.
Separately, Germany’s KfW bank is to provide a loan worth US$71.5M to finance the reconstruction of the Bajina Basta hydro plant and improve heating systems in the Serbian cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis, according to Serbia’s Tanjug news agency.
The relevant agreement was signed with the Serbian government in Belgrade in early April. Of the total amount, US$35.8M will be used to reconstruct the Bajina Basta plant.
