World Bank approves credits

The World Bank has approved various credits worth US $94.6 million for projects in Mozambique, Lesotho and Rwanda, reports said on Monday. Mozambique’s credit of US $18 million is intended to support the building of national capacity for mineral resources management. Elements of the project included improvement of legal and regulatory reform; building institutional capacity for effective enforcement of laws and regulations; development of data bank and geological maps; strengthening of institutional capacity for environmental management and identification and adoption of appropriate mechanisms to increase revenues and improve the quality of life in mining areas. Lesotho’s US $28.6 million credit will be used to improve business infrastructure such as telecommunications and electricity services. The project’s objectives included attraction of foreign private capital, new technology and management to the electricity sector; reform of the regulatory system to ensure fair and transparent treatment of sectoral operators and a study of the country’s future options in hydro-electric power. The project will also establish an investment fund to support private sector development; provide advisory services and capacity building and assist the government to implement, monitor and evaluate project implementation. All the credits are provided through the bank’s International Development Association that lends to the poorest countries on soft terms, including a 10-year grace period and maturity of 40 years.