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Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has approved funding for three projects worth around $403 million in member countries.
The funding, approved at the 350th board meeting on 1 April includes $344.5 million for the first phase of Egypt’s high-speed railway project, the bank said in a statement.
The 660-km high-speed railway project will connect the port cities of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea to Marsa Matrouh and Alexandria on the Mediterranean.
The project is expected to benefit 25 million people annually and decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 250,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
IsDB further approved additional financing of $13 million for the Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) in Kyrgyzstan.
The bank initially approved $50 million for the project.
The project aims to meet the electricity demand in Afghanistan and Pakistan by establishing cross-border energy exchange among four IsDB member countries by exploiting the hydropower resources of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the statement added.
The third approved project is the implementation of the National Education Development Strategy of Tajikistan (Phase II).
(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)
