The World Bank is giving 40 million dollars to the government as a 20-year interest free loan for on-lending, Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera said after signing and agreement with the lender.
"I do hope that the money we are mobilizing will move very fast in promoting renewable energy and help more households and more rural small and medium enterprises to use renewable energy," he said,
The first phase of the Renewable Energy for Rural Development (RERED) project valued at 75 million dollars has already added 140 megawatts of generation capacity to rural areas, World Bank country director Naoko Ishii said.
"This has helped connect rural poor who would otherwise have been left out of electricity access," Ishii said.
"At the moment about 25 percent of the households have no access to electricity."
Isshii said solar power systems had also been installed in the conflict hit Northern and E