- The Saudi Fund for Development (SDF) provides a $5 million loan to the Central African Republic (CAR) for solar street lighting.
- The streetlights should illuminate a corridor at least 70 kilometres long in CAR.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SDF) signed an agreement in Washington in the United States of America to provide a $5 million loan for the Central African government to obtain funding for deploying solar streetlights in Bangui. This was on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.
The soft credit deal was signed with Sultan bin Abdulrahman Marshalhad, the Managing Director of the SDF, by the Central African team, which Prime Minister Felix Moloua headed. According to the prime minister’s office of Central Africa, the funding will enable the construction of the project’s second phase of general illumination. This entails supplying the capital of Central Africa with solar street lamps, a strategy that will help to save long-term lighting costs but still needs some upkeep and maintenance.
According to the SDF, these solar streetlights in the capital of Central Africa should illuminate a corridor at least 70 kilometres long.
This equipment should improve the level of security in the Central African capital. The Sica 2 and 3 neighbourhoods in the second arrondissement of Bangui are the most affected by the phenomenon, which is reflected in robberies and armed attacks. The Boali Electricity System Development and CAR-DRC Electricity Interconnection Project, financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), improved public lighting in the Central African capital. This project has notably enabled the reinforcement of general lighting and the electrification of households in the neighbourhoods of Galabadja, Ngongonon, Kolongo, Carmel Bimbo and Boy Rabbé.