‘European bank committed to Jordan’s development’

AMMAN — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is ready to support future economic development in Jordan, its president, Suma Chakrabarti, said Tuesday.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour in Amman, Chakrabarti said the opening of an EBRD office in the Kingdom in 2013 contributed to enhancing mutual cooperation.

Ensour voiced Jordan’s appreciation for the support EBRD has presented to several projects in the Kingdom.

Discussions also covered means to increase cooperation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Since EBRD started its operations in the Kingdom in 2012, it has invested 203 million euros (around $262 million) in seven projects in Jordan covering various sectors, according to a statement released Tuesday. 

The bank has also “initiated technical assistance programmes for the benefit of approximately 53 small- and medium-sized Jordanian enterprises”, EBRD said. 

EBRD has supported a project to build an electricity generation station in the Manakher area in east Amman; co-financed projects to ease trade in cooperation with banks in Jordan; and offered support to Microfund for Women, IT sector projects, and energy-saving projects in the Waleh and Lub stations, Petra said.

The bank is currently studying several projects worth $192.2 million in the water, electricity and solar energy sectors, including a solar-powered power plant in Maan.

Jordan joined EBRD in December 2011 and it was granted recipient country status in November 2013, according to Petra.

The EBRD statement said the bank is “addressing acute energy shortages in Jordan with a loan to finance the construction of the country’s first district cooling and heating plant at the Abdali Urban Regeneration development in the capital, Amman”.

The $30 million loan to “Jordan District Energy will fund the construction of a permanent plant with a high capacity for cooling and heating that can serve the entire development, a major commercial centre”, the statement said.

“The new facility will cut energy consumption by 41 per cent a year and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 13,700 tonnes,” EBRD said.

Chakrabarti signed the loan agreement with George Amireh, acting general manager of Jordan District Energy.

“What is being achieved here will set the standard for the construction of similar commercial developments in the future and will also raise the profile of Amman as a business hub,” the statement quoted the EBRD president as saying.

In 2013 the bank extended a related $80 million loan for the Abdali Mall, a retail and entertainment centre serving the development.