NEW DELHI: The International Solar Alliance (ISA) - India's brainchild which was launched jointly with France in Paris on November 30, 2015 - will come into force on Wednesday. Its first chief, the interim
Despite the Asian Development Bank setting up a social dimensions unit to liaise with NGOs and involve them in projects the bank funds, Asian NGOs are unconvinced of the bank's seriousness.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is studying a private loan funding proposal for the Mawanana mini-hydro project in Sri Lanka. The Bank has just completed a 14-month due diligence mission on the proposed project, which would have an installed capacity of 5.4MW.
Soaring food and energy prices are likely to push five per cent of the population of the small island economies in the Pacific into poverty, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday. Oil producers East Timor and Papua New Guinea, which is also boosted by high mineral prices, are
The Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2009 is the flagship annual statistical data book of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It presents the latest available economic, financial, social, environmental, and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators for regional members of ADB. Data are grouped under MDG and Regional Tables.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending $780 million to Pakistan through a multi-tranche financing facility for priority energy efficiency projects that will secure the country's growing energy needs and reduce its reliance on costly, polluting fossil fuels, said Bayanjargal Byambasaikhan, energy specialist with ADB's Central and West Asia Department.
Mumbai: Without stronger basic infrastructure, particularly better roads, water supplies, sanitation, electricity, information and communications technology and other essential services, developing countries will be hard-pressed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Haruhiko Kuroda. The MDGs are eight internationally-agreed targets,
World Bank lending to India registered a massive decline from US $1,068 million in 1998 to US $400 million for the fiscal year 1999. Pressure from the US and its allies over the Pokhran nuclear
THE Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (ireda), the financing arm of the Union ministry of nonconventional energy sources, is finalising a US$ 100 million assistance package from the
Pakistan lacks a comprehensive energy efficiency development road map and investment programme and international experience indicates that the effective implementation and incorporation of energy efficiency into the policy mainstream requires concerted, long-term action and commitment, said Asian Development Bank report. In a project update report on 'Preparing the Sustainable Energy Efficiency Development Programme for Pakistan', the ADB emphasised the need for a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework; energy price and utility rate-setting reforms and incentives; a strong equipment standards, certification, and testing regime; complementary alternative and renewable energy programmes; and easy, widespread access to energy efficiency information, financing, products, and services by all categories and levels of energy market players and end users. According to ADB project study, the energy efficiency assessment conducted under ADB's Energy Efficiency Initiative determined that Pakistan has a large and untapped energy efficiency market. It identifies several energy efficiency improvement opportunities in gas distribution (supply side) and in the government and residential sectors (demand side) that can be tapped into. These opportunities may be explored without extensive precursor preparations, detailed policy design, or framework development, achieving immediate energy savings and deferring additional supply requirements. Further refinement and expansion of such options could result in a portfolio of immediate, bankable energy efficiency investment options for Pakistan, which the government and ADB may consider. According to report, the government and domestic consumers consume more than 60 percent of Pakistan's energy. The public sector is the most inefficient consumer, and the government is looking for more efficient utilisation and conservation measures. The government is eager to procure and adopt energy efficient technology in its operations, including the use of efficient lighting and heating and cooling systems in existing and new buildings, and introduction of energy-efficient building codes. The domestic sector currently uses 45 percent of the power supply. The most effective way to expedite the use of efficient compact fluorescent lamps by domestic consumers is to inject a large volume of such lamps into the market at a low price. This approach has been successful in several countries, where it has immediately reduced customers' monthly power bills. Preliminary analysis suggests that the introduction of 15 million high-quality compact fluorescent lamps into Pakistan's domestic market would save customers $78 million over the lifetime of those bulbs (approximately 2 years). This money could be used more productively in the economy. In addition, 880 MW of power demand would be avoided. The cost of such additional new generation capacity would be $1.15 billion (at $1.3 million per MW), ADB report disclosed. ADB report further pointed out that Pakistan's gas distribution system is ageing and is suffering from high technical losses (25-30 percent in some areas compared to industry standard 5 percent) that could be eliminated by replacing medium and low pressure pipes with more efficient, corrosion-free pipes. Natural gas accounted for half (43 billion cubic meters) of Pakistan's primary energy supply in 2006. A more efficient gas distribution system would result in significant national savings (up to $580 million per year) and increased use of cleaner fuel by more domestic, industrial, and commercial consumers, ADB report mentioned. It said that Electricity consumption, projected to grow an average of 8 percent per annum until 2015 (although recent experience suggests much higher demand growth), will similarly require large power generation capacity additions. Higher energy demand and imports will also require massive investments in associated port terminals, storage facilities, refining capacity, pipeline and transmission networks, and surface fuel transport infrastructure. During 2001-2006, ADB report stated that primary energy supply increased 5.4 percent per year. Meanwhile, consumption of electricity rose at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent, natural gas by 10.4 percent, liquefied petroleum gas by 17.6 percent, and coal by 22.8 percent. Electricity use, in particular, is growing robustly across all sectors-industry, agriculture, domestic, and commercial-recording a 10.2 percent overall jump in 2005-2006, while generation increases lagged at 9.3 percent during the same period. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008
The government should partially withdraw energy subsidy to divert the money to public spending on safety net for the vulnerable groups, said the top official of the Asian Development Bank in Dhaka on Sunday. Under-pricing of energy sources, including fuel and gas, results in a huge deficit in the government's budget and multilateral lending agencies have time and again recommended upward adjustment of prices to reduce losses incurred by agencies like the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
