ADB to provide 85.6 million USD funding for renewable energy and tax administration

The government of Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed loan and grant agreements totaling 85.6 million USD on Friday, November 2...

The government of Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed loan and grant agreements totaling 85.6 million USD on Friday, November 2. The agreements center on developing the country’s first distributed renewable energy system and improving tax administration and public investment management using information and communications technology (ICT).

Representing the government, Finance Minister Ch.Khurelbaatar signed the agreement with ADB Country Director Yolanda Fernandez Lommen at a ceremony in the State Palace.

“These projects will support the government’s efforts to raise the share of renewable energy, decrease carbon dioxide emissions, and improve public financial resource mobilization and management. They are also closely aligned with ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for Mongolia to foster inclusive growth, improve people’s access to services, and strengthen environmental sustainability,” said Fernandez Lommen.

The renewable energy loan will be geared at developing a 41 megawatt distributed renewable energy system — a first-of-its-kind in Mongolia — using solar photovoltaic and wind powers with advanced battery storage technology and energy management systems.

ADB said that the project will result in the supply of clean and reliable electricity to about 260,000 people in remote and less-developed towns in western Mongolia, who currently rely on high-cost and high-polluting carbon-intensive electricity.

ADB’s funding of 40 million USD is supplemented by grant cofinancing; 14.6 million USD from the Strategic Climate Fund under the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program in Low-Income Countries; and six million USD from the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism. In addition, the government is providing 5.6 million USD to the project.

The second project will be focused on supporting the Mongolian Tax Authority in its tax collection efforts by streamlining processes for tax administration and public investment in line with international good practice.

The 25 million USD loan will establish an information system and provide required ICT infrastructure to host it. The project will also develop an ICT-based public investment management information system to help the government select the investment projects that will bring most benefits to the country and better manage them. The government is providing 1.47 million USD to the project.

...These projects will support the government’s efforts to raise the share of renewable energy, decrease carbon

dioxide emissions, and improve public financial resource mobilization and

management...