Djibouti and World Bank move on geothermal project
Djibouti, Africa (source: flickr/ Stéphane Pouyllau, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
16 Apr 2013
Djibouti and the World Bank complete negotiations on support for planned geothermal exploration work in the Assal Rift Valley in Djibouti, which means the project is going to go forward.
Reported yesterday from Djibouti, the country’s “Minister of Energy Ali Yacoub Mahamoud met with World Bank officials last week to discuss support for planned geothermal energy exploration in the Assal Rift Valley.
Principal energy economist and project leader for the Djiboutian geothermal project Ilhem Bagdadii-Salamon, World Bank representative in Djibouti Homa-Zahra Fotouhi, director of Djibouti Electricity Djama Ali Guelleh and various other officials also attended the meeting to finalise negotiations over the loan funded by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme and the Global Environment Facility.
“Djibouti’s geothermal energy potential is huge, and our development partners such as the IDA or the World Bank believe in its feasibility, saying it is a project that will succeed,” Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy Ainan Farah Ali told Sabahi. “The geothermal energy potential at Lac Assal and Hanlé is huge and our country’s future depends on it, as far as energy is concerned.”
Initial negotiations for the project were held March 12th-14th, and addressed the documentation and legal aspects of the project.
At the end of the meeting with the energy minister, World Bank officials said they were happy that negotiations had been completed and that the project could now begin with some guarantee of success.”
Source: AllAfrica
