ISLAMABAD, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 330-million U.S. dollars loan to Pakistan to expand the national transmission network, the ADB said in a statement Thursday.
The project will construct a new 500-kilovolt, approximately 290-km transmission line and upgrade critical grid infrastructure feeding Islamabad and the eastern industrial city of Faisalabad, the statement said.
According to the ADB, the investments "will address long-standing constraints in Pakistan's north-south power corridor, enabling the transfer of up to 3,200 megawatts of clean energy from hydropower plants in the north of the country."
The ADB said its financing package includes a 285 million dollar loan from its ordinary capital resources and a 45 million dollar concessional loan.
The funding will help Pakistan expand and modernize transmission assets, strengthen institutional capacity, improve financial management, and advance public outreach and gender equity initiatives, the statement added. ■
