NDB signs $800m loan deals with China for three green projects

K.V. Kamath, president of the New Development Bank (NDB), attends a groundbreaking ceremony at New Development Bank permanent headquarters building in Shanghai, Sept 2, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) signed $800 million loan agreements for three green development projects in China's Fujian, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces on Sunday, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The loan agreements were signed in Fujian's Xiamen, the host city for the 9th BRICS leaders' summit held from Sunday to Tuesday.

The loan will finance the Fujian Putian Pinghai Bay Offshore Wind Power Project, the Ecological Development Project in the Green Heart Center of the Hunan Chang-Zhu-Tan City Cluster and Jiangxi Industrial Low-Carbon Restructuring and Green Development Pilot Project.

The NDB President K.V. Kamath said at the signing ceremony that China invested $100 billion in renewable energy from 2015 to 2016, more than the investments of Europe and the United States combined.

With the increasing launches of huge investments, China is playing a leading role in the global green development, Kamath added.

China's Vice-Minister of Finance Shi Yaobin, who witnessed the signing ceremony, said the NDB has loaned 5.8 billion yuan to China so far.

He urged provinces that have secured loans to cooperate with the NDB to be strict in projects' qualities, carry out review of compliance, ensure the projects will be completed on schedule and play due roles as soon as possible.

According to the agreements, the NDB will loan 2 billion yuan to the Fujian wind power Project, the first of its kind in Fujian, to support the construction of 246 mW offshore wind turbines.

The first phase of the project has been put into operation and the second phase, which is expected to be completed in 2019, will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 900 thousand tons annually.

The project in Hunan province will use the 2-billion-yuan loan to address problems along multiple tributaries of the Xiang River, a branch of the Yangtze River, the NDB said in a press release.

It will enhance flood control and improve water quality, benefiting 50 million residents of the area.

In addition, the NDB's $200 million loan to the Jiangxi project will be used in promoting energy conservation, resources recycling and pollutants reduction through technology upgrade.

Kamath said on Sunday the Board of Directors of the bank has approved 11 projects with loans aggregating over $3 billion to date and sustainable infrastructure development will be the primary emphasis of the bank's operations in the next five years, according to the press release.

Currently, four of the bank's loan projects are in China, while three in India, two in Russia, one in Brazil, and one in South Africa.

Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project, the first project financed by the NDB last year, started operation Saturday in Shanghai, according to Xinhua News Agency.

It was a loan of 525 million yuan ($76 million) with a maturity length of 17 years.

The NDB, founded by BRICS, which is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, during the bloc's sixth summit in Fortaleza of Brazil in July 2014, was formally opened in Shanghai in July 2015.

Its permanent headquarters building, expected to be in operation in four years, started construction in the Shanghai Expo Park on Saturday, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Occupying an area of 12,000 square meters and with a height of 150 meters, the headquarters will have a total floor space of 126,000 sq m and is expected to become a new landmark building along Huangpu River.