Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a loan of $165 million to help Bangladesh boost private investment in infrastructure, mainly in the energy sector. Bangladesh and ADB signed a loan agreement for Public-Private Infrastructure Development Facility (PPIDF) at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the city yesterday. ERD Secretary Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and ADB Country Director Paul J Heytens signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. Of the total loan amount, $82 million is to help finance large infrastructure projects, $50 million to assist small and medium-sized energy projects primarily in rural and semi-urban areas, and $33 million to promote renewable energy, such as solar home systems and bio mass installations through a microfinance-based, direct sales programme. In addition, $500,000 in technical assistance grant would also be provided for capacity building to support project implementation. The assistance would support the PPIDF, which seeks to catalyse private sector investments of up to $600 million, mostly in energy, and could add at least 900 megawatts of power generation capacity in Bangladesh and provide electricity to about 100,000 more households through the renewable energy programme, said an ADB release. The PPIDF is an integral part of ADB's sector strategy and complements ADB's parallel initiatives in governance, capital markets development, and promotion of public-private partnerships. The loan will be managed by the state-owned Infrastructure Development Co Ltd (IDCOL), which will provide financing of up to 40 percent for each project with a loan repayment period of up to 20 years. Private investors are required to inject at least 20 percent equity in the projects. Aside from renewable energy, IDCOL's project pipeline includes small transportation and water projects. The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is currently processing a parallel financing facility of up to $18 million for IDCOL's solar energy programme.