Japan loans Morocco $ 52 mln for electrification of 87,000 dwellings

The Japanese government loaned Morocco US$ 52 Mln for the financing of the third phase of the Global Rural Electrification Program (PERG), which will benefit some 440,000 inhabitants.

The project, which concerns 87,569 dwellings in 1727 villages, was signed here Friday between Moroccan minister of economy, finance, privatization and tourism, Fathallah Oulaalou, and Japanese ambassador to Morocco, Hiromi Sato.

The loan, to be paid back over a 30-year period, with an interest rate of 2.2%, aims to improve the living conditions of the rural populations, and the kingdom's economic and social infrastructure.

The loan is part of Morocco's exclusion fighting policy, and the project will increase the rural electrification rate to 68% in 2004, and 80% in 2010, with 10,000 rural dwellings electrified a year, Oulaalou said.

The Japanese diplomat said the loan evidences his country's readiness to back Morocco's policies in order to lower all obstacles to the kingdom's social-economic development.

Minister of industry, energy and mining, Mustapha Mansouri, who attended the signing ceremony, paid homage to the Japanese government for its effective support to Morocco's efforts for development.

Japan already financed the second phase of the electrification project in 1998, with some US $ 39.5 mln.