- The country plans to construct and upgrade transmission lines and substations.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in conjunction with the Government of Australia, is providing a $305 million grant for developing transmission lines and substations in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The project is aimed at strengthening and expanding the electricity network in PNG.
The grants will focus on five sub-projects within the main power grids operated by PNG Power (PPL), the country’s power utility company. Under this initiative, ADB has offered two loans amounting to $208.6m, while the Australian government is providing a $59.5m loan and a grant of $12.8m. The Government of PNG will contribute the remaining $24.1m for the project together with PPL.
The funds and grants will be used for constructing and upgrading transmission lines and substations in Gazelle, Ramu and Port Moresby. They will also be used to build mini-grids in West New Britain and increase PPL’s capacity by introducing utility operation and financial management reforms.